By Bill O'Brien
bobrien@record-eagle.com
TRAVERSE CITY — The trio who launched the Traverse City Film Festival, a burgeoning northern Michigan cultural and economic powerhouse, are recipients of this year's Lyle DeYoung Award.
Filmmaker Michael Moore, the Film Festival's founder, along with co-founders Doug Stanton and John Robert Williams, received the Downtown Traverse City Association's 18th annual DeYoung award for downtown service Thursday evening at the City Opera House.
They were ringleaders in a group that established the Film Festival in 2005, and the 2009 event generated more than 96,000 admissions with an estimated economic impact of more than $6.5 million, DTCA officials said.
The Film Festival's success also led to the downtown State Theatre's reopening, and established the long-shuttered venue as a major drawing card.
"The way this festival came together in such a fast and furious way with massive numbers of volunteers, stroking and soothing of naysayers, and donors who signed on with not much more than faith in Traverse City was nothing short of amazing," said Todd McMillen, outgoing DTCA president and last year's Lyle DeYoung Award winner.
Williams, a commercial photographer, is a Traverse City native with a long history of civic involvement, including his work to help create the Traverse Area Recreational Trails.
He initiated discussions with other area residents about creating a local film festival more than a decade ago. In the beginning, his idea met with plenty of skepticism.
"They guffawed and laughed and said that was the dumbest thing they've ever heard of," Williams said.
Moore also credited festival co-founders Susan Brown and Jason Pollack and hundreds of festival volunteers for making the event a success. And he praised others who've worked to bring the arts to northern Michigan.
"I believe that art can make a community — make a society — a more just and loving community," Moore said. "In the years since the Film Festival began, I've seen the climate change here in Traverse City, and it's all been for the good. The real gift to me has been the opportunity to do that."
Traverse City author Stanton, who's penned two New York Times best sellers — "In Harm's Way" and "Horse Soldiers" — dedicated the award to his father, Derald Stanton, a retired lineman who worked more than 30 years for Traverse City Light & Power Co.
Stanton said his father taught him the importance of civic pride and duty.
"He is really the one who instilled a sense of community service in me," Stanton said. "Working for the city, he was always aware of the city's goings on, things that were right, and things that were wrong. The State Theatre is, obviously, something that's gone right."
Stanton said he wants to do more to engage young people in downtown events, and hopes to continue expanding his National Writers Series.
"The reality is the (baby) boomer generation is aging, and the young people are the future of downtown," Stanton said.
Moore said he was "extremely honored, humbled and grateful" for the award. But he's more focused on state and regional economic problems, and called on the community to help boost the local economy.
"We're in our own kind of catastrophe here, so all of us have to find a way to create good-paying jobs in Michigan," Moore said. "I'll feel better when the job is done, and the job is not done."
