By Kalvin D. Perron
Staff Reporter
BAY MILLS — Some call it the Bay Mills Cultural Lodge, others the Bay Mills Learning and Language Center; some still refer to it as the Iroquois Inn. One thing is for certain, the Bay Mills Indian Community's newly-acquired 11,000 square foot, 73 acre property is large enough to entertain any possibility. The only problem seems to be that everyone has their own idea of how the property should be used.
Bay Mills Community College President Mickey Parish said that, in the future, the property may be used to teach classes for cultural and language conferences, as the new pow wow grounds, for performing arts and entertainment, sledding and tubing for children in the winter, and for hiking and other outdoor recreation activities. Nothing will be decided until a working group is scheduled with the pow-wow committee, cultural committee, BMCC, and the Executive Council to figure out the best and most effective way to use the newly-acquired property.
“Hopefully, we can make efficient use for everyone,” he said. “But, I think it should serve as a focal point for our language and culture here in Bay Mills.”
The college plans to add a new structure, near the front entrance of the property, to house the new Building Trades program BMCC will be offering this fall semester. The new building will be separate from the existing one, Parish said, describing the building as, “basically, a large garage with all the necessary tools to build a house.” The building will be far enough away from the original structure so as not to disturb any event that may be taking place, he said.
The building is currently being used by the Language Institute, which takes place six weeks every summer. There are also language immersion classes being taught every Tuesday and Thursday night, as well as various language classes taught by Mike Willis. Cultural Director Lance Teeple also calls the building home.
“We are still trying to figure out how we are going to use this building,” Parish said. “We do know that language and culture should be housed together. They work together hand and hand.”
The property, purchased with insurance money from a fire that destroyed the tribešs Cultural Center this spring, is leased to the college for 25 years. In return, the college leased the old BMCC Library building to the tribe to house the Bay Mills History Department.
The college recently applied for a $600,000 grant through Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to renovate the existing building. Most of this money would be used to get the building up to code, but Parish added that a second floor on the building might also be in the works in the near future.
