A Theme Park for Grayling

There’s hard evidence pointing to the prospect of a gargantuan “Main Street USA” theme park just south of Grayling, funded in part by a multi-million dollar state grant.
In terms of official sources, the Bay City Times submitted a Freedom of Information request to the state Department of Natural Resources and learned that the proposed $160 million theme park would be situated on 1,800 acres, now a mature forest of oak and pines. It would employ about 2,000 part-time people, and 700 full-time people if it can draw 1.7 million visitors as it hopes, the July 30th article said.
The Bay City Times reported that a Michigan company, Axiom Entertainment of Rochester, met with state officials behind closed doors for the theme park. It is seeking $25,000 in state grants to help with the infrastructure, according to a follow-up article in the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

LOCATION
On the softer side of information, word on the street is that the park will locate its entrance where the state rest stop is now, off I-75, just south of Grayling. That way there’s an existing exit and entrance to the future park, said a Grayling woman in the realty business and knowledgeable of the plans.
She also said that Governor Jennifer Granholm is supposed to make an announcement of the park and the state’s role in it on September 1.
There is speculation that Axiom is merely a front company for an amusement park, perhaps Six Flags, the world’s largest chain of amusement parks (the realtor mentioned Six Flags). If you look at Axiom Entertainment’s website (axiomentertainment.com), the company doesn’t appear capable of building an amusement park. Its specialty is “entertainment marketing,” which appears to be commercials that look like action movies. (Interestingly, Axiom’s address is on Main Street, and the working title for the theme park is Main Street USA)
An Axiom spokeswoman said it is indeed the company Bay City Times is talking about, but said she’s not free to discuss anything yet. Liz Boyd, the governor’s press secretary, said she also can’t comment and thereby “fuel speculation.”
A spokesperson at the Six Flags New York City office said she doesn’t know of any theme park planned for Michigan. Perhaps the plan is too preliminary, or the rumor is just wrong.

REMEMBER AUTOWORLD?
The theme park—if it is a Six Flags park—sounds like a stronger candidate for success than AutoWorld, another theme park that sucked up $35 million in city, state and federal subsidies in 1984. The park was supposed to revive downtown Flint and attract 900,000 visitors per year, but it flopped. There were few visitors, and it closed less than two years after it opened. It was ultimately demolished, and became part of U-M’s Flint campus. But let’s face it, AutoWorld drew snickers the day it was opened.
Six Flags is the world’s largest chain of amusement and theme parks, but has lost money every year since 2001 and owes $2.1 billion in debt, according to a summary in Wikipedia.com. It closed Six Flags Astroworld theme park in 2005 and announced it would sell its Frontier City theme park and White Water Bay water park, both in Oklahoma City, at the end of the 2006 operating season.
Whatever company is planning the theme park will certainly be welcomed by many of those looking for jobs in Northern Michigan, and rebuffed by those who fear that a gigantic amusement park will snarl I-75 traffic and ruin the “Main Street” feel of the region. View On Our Website