The Highlands gets ready to celebrate 60th anniversary this weekend
Editor's Note: The online version of this story has been updated to include information about the larger 60th anniversary celebration set for 2024.
HARBOR SPRINGS — The Highlands at Harbor Springs will be hosting its annual anniversary celebration this weekend, this time, celebrating its 60th year.
The Highlands will be celebrating its 60th year in 2023, but the large 60th anniversary celebration will take place in 2024.
“Every year around this time we have our anniversary weekend that really just celebrates where this resort started — the people, the places, traditions, everything that we've had since the resort opened in 1963,” said Julie Rogers, director of marketing for The Highlands.
In the winter of 1963, Everett Kircher, founder of Boyne Resorts, opened Boyne Highlands after purchasing Harbor Highlands Resort, which had closed due to debt. At the time, Northern Michigan’s winter sports economy was growing and Kircher made waves with a chairlift that could carry three passengers, instead of the usual two.
Over the next 60 years, the resort expanded into the all-season resort it is today.
The 60th anniversary celebration will take place Friday, Jan. 20 and Saturday, Jan. 21. The event will start off from 5-8 p.m. on Friday in the Tower Lobby with cotton candy and champagne, a hot cocoa bar, face painting and other activities.
From noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday the Sno-Go Hot Cocoa Hustle will take place. There will also be a DJ and giveaways from event sponsor, Coca-Cola. After the hustle, there will be a family pajama party with music, Wii games and face painting. The best dressed family will win a $25 gift card.
Four-person teams for the hustle can register on The Highlands website. According to Rogers, the winning team will win a Sno-Go bike and the other teams will win prizes as well.
Saturday evening activities will take place in the Zoo Bar where The Remedee will play hits from the 60s and 70s. Guests are encouraged to dress in vintage ski-wear from the era in honor of the resort’s milestone anniversary. The best dressed of the night will win a $100 gift card to Boyne Resorts.
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The Highlands is celebrating this anniversary one year after officially changing its name from Boyne Highlands to The Highlands at Harbor Springs.
“We just really wanted to make our own stake here in Harbor Springs to really make it a home resort and as well as separate ourselves,” Rogers said.
“There was a lot of market confusion with our guests having a Boyne Highlands and a Boyne Mountain. (Guests) have been calling it The Highlands for so many years anyway, that we wanted to rename ourselves to The Highlands and make it a household name.”
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January and February tend to be the busiest time for the resort as skiers and other resort guests make their way to Northern Michigan to enjoy the winter weather.
While the ski season started out strong with heavy snowfall, warmer weather has melted much of that first snow. However, The Highlands has a stockpile of machine-made snow and continues to make more for winter sports fans to enjoy.
— Contact reporter Tess Ware at tware@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Tess_Petoskey.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: The Highlands to celebrate 60th anniversary
