MUSKEGON, MI – A public school teacher out of southern Ottawa County has become Muskegon Lake recreational boating’s biggest cheerleader.

Roger Zuidema – although living outside of Muskegon and teaching in Hudsonville – has a love affair with Muskegon Lake and the city’s Pere Marquette Park from his boyhood to spending summers here today. It inspired him to create Muskegon Lake Effect Boating – a social media promotional campaign.

Zuidema's efforts included creating Muskegon Boat Time – a boater-oriented group of events the third weekend in August – designed to celebrate getting out on the water.

Now Zuidema thinks Muskegon is ready to celebrate its maritime resources not just with the boating community but with a broader, landlubber audience. The one-man promotion machine is asking the Muskegon maritime community if a new water-based festival should be developed.

Zuidema began 2014 by bringing a dozen people involved with and interested in maritime activities and boating in Muskegon to begin the ever-so early stages of launching a festival.

Roger Zuidema

"There is already a giant movement out there that wants to showcase our maritime industry," Zuidema said of feedback he has received since starting Lake Effect Boat Time in 2011. "We don't want to reinvent things. We just want to invite others to be a part of it."

Sitting around the conference table in the upper level of The Depot – home of the Muskegon County Convention & Visitors Bureau – Zuidema and like-minded Muskegon maritime promoters discussed some broad concepts when considering a new festival that they would want to have a regional and statewide appeal.

The early participants included those representing the Port City Princess dinner cruise ship, the city of Muskegon’s harbor master, Clear Channel Radio, Fricano Place, Great Lakes Marina and Redi Rental among others. Also participating was Carla Flanders, a local marketing and event promoter who helped the Muskegon Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce create the first Muskegon Lakeshore Art Festival last July.

Zuidema asked if a Michigan or Muskegon maritime festival would be a weekend, week-long or series of events over the course of the summer boating season. Even a new name more creative than “maritime festival” would have to be crafted, the group concluded.

The idea of the event would be to have fun, promote local development, provide education and support preservation, Zuidema said of his event concept. The scope would need to include the entire maritime industry including the commercial operators in the Port of Muskegon, the group concluded.

“The ‘blue economy’ is not just recreational boating and beaches,” Zuidema said. “But the whole maritime industry needs to be a part of this. We have to bring others to the table as we can’t do it all ourselves.”

The group agreed that Muskegon has two grand venues for events: Muskegon County’s Heritage Landing on Muskegon Lake and the city of Muskegon’s Pere Marquette Park’s expansive Lake Michigan beach. The idea is to interject both venues into a festival or series of festival events, the participants said.

There already are successful activities such as movies on the LST 393, Movies on the Beach at Pere Marquette Park, educational programs at the Grand Valley State University Annis Water Resources Institute and military history events at the Silversides Submarine Museum, to name a few, Zuidema said. Any water-oriented festival could include sailing Tall Ships, kite boarding, triathlon events and kayaking tours, the group concluded.

The group began to brainstorm developing a few signature events that could be the foundation of the festival, draw people into Muskegon and generate revenue. The ideas ranged from “fire water” spectaculars where floating devices light up a waterfront at night, boat races, water laser shows, a classic in-the-water boat show to a giant water slide built of sand and vinyl on the beach.

The success or viability of a maritime festival would depend on finances, sponsorships and volunteer support, Zuidema said. The group ended with a need to explore establishing a non-profit corporation and setting another meeting to define the scope and direction of a potential festival.

Realistically, what the group discussed couldn’t be produced in 2014 but a small event or two could be planned this year to launch the festival effort for 2015 or 2016, they said. The group is looking for community ideas, which can be shared on the Lake Effect Boating Facebook page.

Dave Alexander covers business and local government for MLive/Muskegon Chronicle. Email him at dalexan1@mlive.com and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.