By David Fleet
dfleet@mihomepaper.com
Groveland Twp.— In May, the township board of trustees OK’d by a vote of 5-0 a special use permit for the Renaissance Festival.
The 45th annual event will kick off on Aug. 17 and conclude Sept. 29. Over the years the late summer event has attracted thousands to Hollygrove, 12600 Dixie Highway and often traffic congestion for the events follows.
However, the 2023 proved to be much improved, say township officials, prompting less deliberation prior to approval of the 2024 permit.
“Festival officials would like to say thank you to Supervisor DePalma and the Groveland Township Board as well as the planning commission for their approval and support for the upcoming festival season,” said Chip Schultz, representing the Renaissance Festival. “Like last year, it’s our sincere intent to keep an open line of communication with both entities as well as the residents of both Groveland and Holly townships as we move forward.”
The popularity of the event keeps growing. In 2022, the festival attracted 248,919 patrons, that number jumped to 254,022 the second highest ever in 2023.
A key concern for the 2024 festival is an ongoing Michigan Department of Transportation project that includes bridge and road work along I-75 between M-15 and the Oakland/Genesee county line, with crews working on resurfacing northbound I-75, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation. The four year long project has created significantly greater traffic on Dixie Highway.
“We are monitoring the MDOT project,” said Schultz. “We are working on the parking plan to accommodate the additional traffic. It’s our goal to motorists to open lanes on Dixie Highway.”
Another consideration is opening the festival at 9 a.m. rather than the traditional 10 a.m. in an effort to spread the traffic out over a longer period.
“I’m not sure anyone can say what the impact of the I-75 construction will have,” said Bob DePalma, township supervisor. “That’s going to go through October. It’s about an 80% increase in traffic on Dixie Highway.”
Some of the changes for the 2023 Festival that will continue for 2024 include retaining Elite Parking Solutions, Inc. which will oversee internal traffic and creating a parking plan. Among the benefits will be a staffing of up to 40 people directing cars with key management present at all times; Charging is going up from $10 per car to $15 to park to help promote carpooling; limiting the number of complementary tickets for patrons on the last three weekends of the festival and providing drone coverage of the traffic in and out of the festival on the Dixie Highway.