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December 19, 2003BACK ON TRACKFestival of Trains moves to new venueByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - After a year's hiatus, during which the Downtown Development Authority and local hobby shops received dozens of requests to resurrect it, the Festival of Trains is back. The 12th almost-annual event opens Saturday in a new location - the Grand Traverse Heritage Center on Sixth Street - with a whole new look.
Formerly held in the City Opera House, the holiday festival was put on hold last year after a new phase of renovation to the building forced the DDA to move to new headquarters. The office administers many of the city-owned model trains, buildings and sets. This year the DDA offered the festival to the Heritage Center due to the number of phone calls it received in support of the event, said DDA administrative assistant Becky Crawford. "Not only did we field a lot of calls, but the train volunteers were going crazy because these are guys who love to have their hands on trains," Crawford said. As far as Dan Truckey is concerned, the Heritage Center is the ideal host for the festival, which will take place in the historic building's Con Foster Museum and in the community meeting room on the first level. "We have a display on railroad history in the area, so it certainly does fit with our whole mission of presenting the history and culture of the Grand Traverse region," said Truckey, the center's executive director. As in past years, the festival will feature several scales of model trains, from the tiny Z-scale to the substantial G-scale. Only this year, instead of using the large props from the Opera House, volunteer modelers constructed new sets in 3-foot by 5-foot modular units that will be linked together for a total of 300 feet of track. Horning said the new system will make handling the sets easier. In the past, the DDA has had to rent off-season sites like the Grand Traverse Auto property or the old Woolworth's building to store and assemble the cumbersome pieces. Then they were hauled by hired workers and volunteers to and from the Opera House. "The problem in the past was it (took) almost a whole week to set up," Horning said. "There were guys who would work 24 hours before the show just to get it wired. Now it's really slick, it's like a military operation. They can have it going in about an hour." That opens up new possibilities for displaying the trains year-round at other events like the Northwestern Michigan Fair and local shopping malls, he said. The system also allows the corps of about 40 festival volunteers - members of the Northern Michigan Railroaders Club and other model enthusiasts - to work on the sets individually instead of trying to coordinate schedules. "In the past, one of the problems was most of the guys who wanted to volunteer were retirees who wanted to start at 5 in the morning because they'd already been up two hours," Horning said. "Then there were (others) who couldn't start until they got home from work. Now anyone can work whenever they want in the comfort of their home." The Festival of Trains runs through Jan. 10 and is expected to attract between 4,000 and 5,000 visitors. Tickets are $20 for families, $4 for adults, $3 for senior citizens and $2 for children, and are available at the door. Family tickets are good for the run of the show. For more information, call 995-0313.
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