Colon, the Michigan city hit by a tornado, is 'Magic Capital of the World'
Magic has been a part of Colon for almost 100 years, but magic wasn't enough this week to keep a twister away.
On the west side of Michigan, about 30 miles south of Battle Creek, a tornado touched down late Wednesday night in the "Magic Capital of the World," putting the community — which village billing clerk Julie Dekker described as "in the middle of nowhere" Michigan — suddenly in the news for another reason.
"It was probably, like, a three-minute ordeal," Dekker said, suggesting that up-close touchdown maybe wasn't as bad as the weather reports have made it sound, but she added, it could have been. Nobody got hurt, she said, but, "there were metal roof pieces in the bean field across the street."
The village has about 1,200 residents, and more in the summer, Dekker said, because of its vacation lake homes. It's not a fancy place, she said, but fancy people sometimes stay there. And it is famous, but mostly just to magicians and people interested in magic.
For about a week in August, magicians come from all over the globe to go to the magic convention it holds, known as the "Get Together."
Over the years, well-known magicians have either lived in Colon or spent time here. It's also home to magic businesses: Abbott Magic, FAB Magic Co. and the Sterlini Magic Manufacturing Co. It's also the final resting place for Harry Blackstone, the first magician known to pull a rabbit out of a hat.
The local high school's mascot, you might expect, is a white rabbit wearing a black top hat.
The village website boasts that it has a "rich history of magic." It also notes it is surrounded by water, with Sturgeon Lake, Palmer Lake, and Swan Creek within the village limits, making it a magical place to live and visit.
But Wednesday, in a blink of an eye, a structure there was damaged. Its garage doors were blown in, and the roof was blown off, because, out of nowhere, a tornado dropped down, throwing debris, metal, wood, anything in its path about 200 yards away into the nearby fields, the National Weather Service said.
A few trees were damaged, too. The twister yanked them out by their roots and ripped off limbs.
This was considered a "weak" tornado.
The weather service determined after a review late Thursday it was an EF1. The Fujita Scale — now the Enhanced Fujita Scale — goes from EF0 to EF5, the higher the number the worse the storm and damage. The tornado, meteorologists said, was part of some destructive storms that rolled across Michigan.
Lower Michigan isn't entirely out of the clear. The forecast for Friday called for scattered showers and thunderstorms, mostly in the afternoon and evening. There could be gust up to 60 mph, quarter-sized hail and heavy rain.
More: Tornado touches down in Colon as severe storms roll across Michigan
But fortunately, Colon residents said, there's plenty of time to fix up the community for the next magic convention. Greg Bordner, the president of Abbott Magic, added the schedule for the event, Aug. 2-5, is already set and no "tiny tornado" can stop it.
He said the convention, in it's 85th year, "goes a little crazy."
The event, he said, draws thousands of tourists, and magicians from Belgium, Japan, Spain and other countries. Magicians put on shows in the streets, at the local American Legion Hall and in the high school auditorium. Besides, he added, "we've had much worse storms than that."
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Colon, Michigan city hit by tornado, is 'Magic Capital of the World'
