Highlands prepares vintage ski race for 60th anniversary weekend
HARBOR SPRINGS — The Highlands at Harbor Springs is turning back the clock this month and celebrating like it’s 1963.
As part of its 60th anniversary weekend festivities, The Highlands will be offering a slopeside European-style market, a vintage ski race, meet and greet opportunities with Olympian athletes and more.
“We actually turned 60 on Dec. 26, but we wanted to get a little farther into the season so we could offer it to more people,” said Mike Chumbler, resort president and general manager. “We have an exciting, special weekend planned to celebrate our 60th, which is Jan. 19-21.”
Weekend highlights include a champagne welcome reception, vintage ski races and a runway show.
“The weekend will give off this sense of timeless charm, cozy ambiance,” Chumbler said. “We’ll set the stage with the outdoor fire pits and outdoor seating with blankets, lights, we’ll have music around every corner (and) outdoor food and bars. It will just be a really cool wonderland vibe.”
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The Slopeside European Market will be open from around noon to 10 p.m. on Jan. 20.
“We’ll have local vendors,” Chumbler said. “They’ll offer things like handcrafted jewelry, handcrafted leather, hard to find vintage apparel.”
The vintage ski race for adults and youth will be hosted by Cary Adgate, a U.S. Olympian skier, U.S. National Champion and U.S. Ski Hall of Fame inductee.
“In addition to Cary, we’ll have another athlete who will be doing a signing and be around the slopes, Zoe Kalapos, 2022 U.S. Olympian snowboarder, so that will be really cool,” Chumbler said.
Saturday evening will end with a fireworks display.
“We’re trying to really celebrate our 60th and it should be a blast,” Chumbler said.
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The anniversary is just the latest milestone for The Highlands, which also celebrated the opening of its new Camelot 6 chairlift on Dec. 15. The lift is a six-person, high-speed Doppelmayr D-Line bubble chairlift, which is the first lift of its kind in the Midwest.
“It’s a really big deal for this resort and it transforms this property and is clearly one of our biggest projects to date,” Chumbler said. “It’s safe, it’s fast, it’s the first in the region. Bringing this kind of lift technology and advancements like this to Northern Michigan helps keep us on the map. People are used to seeing these out west, so it’s really fun for us to be able to bring this lift technology to Northern Michigan.”
The new chairlift is a continuation of the innovation that first started at The Highlands in 1963.
“We had the first triple chairlift in the world, so that innovative mindset carries on today,” Chumbler said.
For more information about the 60th anniversary celebrations, visit highlandsharborsprings.com/60-anniversary-season.
— Contact Jillian Fellows at jfellows@petoskeynews.com.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Highlands at Harbor Springs prepares for 60th anniversary weekend
