The early days
The historical totem pole was built in the 1960’s by a woman named Deb Reeves. The idea of the totem pole came from a local couple in town that were important to the town of Saugatuck. Dick and Debbie Hoffman owned a giant boat named the Island Queen, which is similar to the Star of Saugatuck today. Dick Hoffman was the president of the village of Saugatuck and Douglas. He wanted to know how he could bring more people to Saugatuck and Douglas, so he asked a local artist, Deb Reeves, if she could create a statement for the entrance of Saugatuck so it could attract more people. Her idea was a totem pole to represent the Indian culture. But instead of creating the totem pole to represent different things about the Indians, she wanted the totem pole to be fun, so she created little cartoons in the totem pole. The statue was then put right where the big art pallet is now. This piece of art drew a lot of attention to the towns of Saugatuck and Douglas. The totem pole also used for advertising brochures. People thought it was cool that a local Indian of the town of Saugatuck liked the totem pole. This could be another reason that the town of Saugatuck grew in popularity. Soon the totem pole was moved to a small building called the Chamber of Commerce because a storm blew the totem pole into the road. The town decided to move the totem pole because of the potential danger to the people. After 35 years of sitting by the Chamber of Commerce, they were going to destroy it because of its massive height. Locals Henry and Bruce Gleason heard about the destruction of the totem pole, so they decided to save it. That is when they donated it to the Historical Society. The totem pole was a great piece of art that grew the population of the town of Saugatuck.
Natalie Beckman |