Unless you’ve worked at the Grand Hotel – or are more intrepid than the average guest – there are probably portions of this landmark summer hotel and its grounds that you’ve never seen.

Recently, a small team from MiVote.org and Detroit Public Television’s visited Mackinac Island to plan for our live coverage of the Mackinac Policy Conference on June 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. While the island and the hotel are famous for the “Somewhere in Time” movie, our mission was “Somewhere on the Island” – somewhere we could park Detroit Public Television’s large production truck.

As a result, I’ve now seen more of the Grand than I ever expected – or ever really wanted to. After discussing a number of options, we finally came to an agreement that we would park the truck here:

Where is this, you ask?  Well, it’s adjacent to the Grand Hotel’s paint shop. Or, to put it another way, next to the freezer. Or, if you recognize the building in the background of the picture, it’s in the service area up on the hill behind the theater. It’s not exactly prime visitor space. In fact, it might remind you of that yard in the neighborhood that everyone’s always complaining about. (Hey, admit it:  there is a closet or a drawer in your house you’d rather not show anybody!).

On the other hand, MiVote’s anchor position at the Grand Hotel will be in a very nice location – at the east end of the Parlor. Our anchor position will be up and running throughout the conference, and it’s our hope that we’ll be interviewing lots of attendees here throughout the week.

So, if you are coming to Mackinac, stop by and see us in the lobby. Just know that your view of the  beautiful front porch at the Grand Hotel will not be marred by a big diesel truck.  Chances are, you will never see the real big truck.   But you might see a few of these!

More “behind-the scenes” peeks to come for MiVote Mackinac!

Georgeann Herbert is the Senior Vice President of Content and Community Engagement for Detroit Public Television, and is serving as the Executive Producer of the MiVote Mackinac conference coverage.

Citizens will be able to participate in the Mackinac Policy Conference on June 1-3 through MiVote.org.  See the details about this first-ever partnership between the Detroit Regional Chamber and Detroit Public Television.