spectr17
06-14-2003, 01:51 PM
Alton's docks give it a portal on the river
By TIM RENKEN, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
6/13/2003
From all over Canada, Europe and the United States, thousands of people come to travel the Mississippi River and see America's heartland.
When they pass along the border of Missouri and Illinois, where do they stop? Not St. Louis, the largest city on the river, the storied portal of westward expansion.
Instead, those river travelers, who grow in number every year, stop at the small town of Alton.
Some come on tour boats like the Niagara Prince, 180 feet long with 42 luxury cabins, or the Grampa Woo, capacity 140 with a large dining room, full bar and spacious weather decks. Many more come on their own boats, watercraft of all sizes from canoes and kayaks to motor yachts worth millions.
Many voyagers walk into Alton (population 30,500), eat at the restaurants on bustling Third Street, poke through the antique shops on Broadway and gamble at the Alton Belle Casino. Some ride tour buses or hire their own transportation to St. Louis, where there are many more things to see and do. But most stay with their boats, on the Illinois side of the river about 20 miles north of the Arch.
That's because there is no place to dock in St. Louis. Just ask Capt. Dana Kollars, skipper and owner of the Grampa Woo, a 100-foot cruise ship.
Kollars, who has made Alton his spring and autumn home base, a few years ago was hired by a major company to cruise to St. Louis and stay there during a company meeting.
"I had to hire a barge to moor, and to get on and off the people had to walk through piles of steel and other stuff," he said. "It was pretty much a mess. I haven't been back."
The difference between the Alton riverfront and the St. Louis riverfront is that Alton has developed its frontage on the Mississippi to welcome river travelers. Alton's marina is the centerpiece of that development and its portal on the river.
St. Louis, even with its cruise and casino boats, the Arch and Laclede's Landing, has no marina. So none of these attractions is easy to reach from the river.
"We've made our riverfront our front door," said Doug Arnold, of the Greater Alton/Twin Rivers Convention and Visitors Bureau. Arnold is a former St. Louisan who previously did promotion for several St. Louis institutions.
Many people in Alton derided the marina idea when it was proposed in the 1980s after the city's riverfront was opened up by the moving of Alton Lock and Dam a mile downstream. "Alton needs a marina like it needs a spaceport," the critics said.
But in its six-plus years of operation, the marina has been expanded twice and soon will be expanded again. It had 185 slips to 55 feet when it opened in 1997 and now has 280. Still, demand sometimes exceeds supply, manager Walt DeGrandele said. The expansion will add 20 more.
"Every year transient traffic increases about 20 percent from a handful in 1997," DeGrendele said. "We've become pretty much a mandatory stop for passenger-carrying commercial and private craft traveling the river.
"We're unique on the river in that we are a guest-and-destination harbor. We welcome people to come and stay, with our big covered slips, shore power, ship's store, shower rooms, swimming pool and, of course, easy access to the city and the casino. Almost all of the other marinas on the river are private clubs, catering only to their members. A lot of them won't even sell fuel to transients."
The marina is owned by the city, but it was developed, built and is run by a professional marina company, SkipperBuds. The company has 14 major marinas in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida. Visitors and customers at Alton find a marina run with almost-military polish. The docks are spotless, including the fuel dock, which is a safe distance from everything. Towels in the home-like shower rooms are folded just-so. Even the toilet paper hangs at just the right angle. Quimby's Harbor Guide, the Bible for river travelers, called Alton the best marina on the Mississippi.
Kollars, the Grampa Woo skipper, said the marina has been a godsend to him while helping Alton become a national crossroads again.
"This place at the intersection of three great rivers was a crossroads before history here began," he said. "It has become that again. The area has everything - beauty, history, weather, entertainment, everything. Last year I brought 4,000 money-spending tourists to Alton and a lot more came on other boats. Every year that will grow."
Reporter Tim Renken
E-mail: trenken@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-849-4239
By TIM RENKEN, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
6/13/2003
From all over Canada, Europe and the United States, thousands of people come to travel the Mississippi River and see America's heartland.
When they pass along the border of Missouri and Illinois, where do they stop? Not St. Louis, the largest city on the river, the storied portal of westward expansion.
Instead, those river travelers, who grow in number every year, stop at the small town of Alton.
Some come on tour boats like the Niagara Prince, 180 feet long with 42 luxury cabins, or the Grampa Woo, capacity 140 with a large dining room, full bar and spacious weather decks. Many more come on their own boats, watercraft of all sizes from canoes and kayaks to motor yachts worth millions.
Many voyagers walk into Alton (population 30,500), eat at the restaurants on bustling Third Street, poke through the antique shops on Broadway and gamble at the Alton Belle Casino. Some ride tour buses or hire their own transportation to St. Louis, where there are many more things to see and do. But most stay with their boats, on the Illinois side of the river about 20 miles north of the Arch.
That's because there is no place to dock in St. Louis. Just ask Capt. Dana Kollars, skipper and owner of the Grampa Woo, a 100-foot cruise ship.
Kollars, who has made Alton his spring and autumn home base, a few years ago was hired by a major company to cruise to St. Louis and stay there during a company meeting.
"I had to hire a barge to moor, and to get on and off the people had to walk through piles of steel and other stuff," he said. "It was pretty much a mess. I haven't been back."
The difference between the Alton riverfront and the St. Louis riverfront is that Alton has developed its frontage on the Mississippi to welcome river travelers. Alton's marina is the centerpiece of that development and its portal on the river.
St. Louis, even with its cruise and casino boats, the Arch and Laclede's Landing, has no marina. So none of these attractions is easy to reach from the river.
"We've made our riverfront our front door," said Doug Arnold, of the Greater Alton/Twin Rivers Convention and Visitors Bureau. Arnold is a former St. Louisan who previously did promotion for several St. Louis institutions.
Many people in Alton derided the marina idea when it was proposed in the 1980s after the city's riverfront was opened up by the moving of Alton Lock and Dam a mile downstream. "Alton needs a marina like it needs a spaceport," the critics said.
But in its six-plus years of operation, the marina has been expanded twice and soon will be expanded again. It had 185 slips to 55 feet when it opened in 1997 and now has 280. Still, demand sometimes exceeds supply, manager Walt DeGrandele said. The expansion will add 20 more.
"Every year transient traffic increases about 20 percent from a handful in 1997," DeGrendele said. "We've become pretty much a mandatory stop for passenger-carrying commercial and private craft traveling the river.
"We're unique on the river in that we are a guest-and-destination harbor. We welcome people to come and stay, with our big covered slips, shore power, ship's store, shower rooms, swimming pool and, of course, easy access to the city and the casino. Almost all of the other marinas on the river are private clubs, catering only to their members. A lot of them won't even sell fuel to transients."
The marina is owned by the city, but it was developed, built and is run by a professional marina company, SkipperBuds. The company has 14 major marinas in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida. Visitors and customers at Alton find a marina run with almost-military polish. The docks are spotless, including the fuel dock, which is a safe distance from everything. Towels in the home-like shower rooms are folded just-so. Even the toilet paper hangs at just the right angle. Quimby's Harbor Guide, the Bible for river travelers, called Alton the best marina on the Mississippi.
Kollars, the Grampa Woo skipper, said the marina has been a godsend to him while helping Alton become a national crossroads again.
"This place at the intersection of three great rivers was a crossroads before history here began," he said. "It has become that again. The area has everything - beauty, history, weather, entertainment, everything. Last year I brought 4,000 money-spending tourists to Alton and a lot more came on other boats. Every year that will grow."
Reporter Tim Renken
E-mail: trenken@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-849-4239