This summer a few things are going to be done differently in Manitowish Waters compared to years previous.
The Town of Manitowish Waters has entered into a lease agreement with the DNR for the use, management, and maintenance of the Little Star Lake Park beach and picnic area. The DNR owns the facility and use of it has required payment of a fee. This park never was really very busy except for when good weather coincided with holiday weekends, but that may be changing. Beginning this year, the town will manage and maintain the facility and payment of a fee will no longer be required. In essence, it will become another town park, and at that a very nice addition to the town's park facilities. I would expect that utilization of the picnic and beach areas will increase noticeably.
The town's Fourth of July fireworks display has for many years been launched from the shores of Rest Lake (or, two years ago, from a barge on the lake). While this location was popular with people who liked to watch the fireworks from their boat (and they are many), none of the various shore locations tried ever worked well for the folks who by preference or by need were watching from land, generally Rest Lake Park. The viewers were too far from the launch sites for it to be an interesting show. So, this year the town is trying something different - launching from the grounds of the Manitowish Waters Airport.
The airport location should provide an excellent view of the fireworks for land-based viewers. The new location provides a great increase in parking spaces and the room to accommodate half of the county and their lawn chairs. The viewing experience for most should be much improved - I might even start going again. For people who always enjoyed watching from the water, the situation is not so good. The best visibility by boat should be from Little Star Lake or the south end of Rest Lake. There will be trees between the launch site and either lake, so there will be no viewing of any ground displays while aboard a boat. The decision to use the airport was not taken lightly, for there are other factors to consider - for one, the airport will have to be closed to air traffic during the show, and two, there likely will be several million dollars worth of aircraft on the ramp on that weekend. Definitely do not want to shower them with sparks.
There is more -- to be continued.
