Arnold Ferry Line is up and running.
The company started running passenger boats to Mackinac Island Friday, along with the other two ferry services to the island, Shepler’s and Star Line.
The fate of Arnold Line came into question in March when a barricade briefly appeared in front of its main dock.
Arnold has had financial difficulties recently and sold that piece of property to hotel developers. So far, it has not worked out a deal with the new owners to allow ferry passengers and horses to cross from the dock to Main Street.
Instead, Arnold is using a smaller dock, just a few blocks outside of the downtown area. The company’s President, Brent Rippe, says they still hope to use the main dock this season.
“That’s the ideal place,” he says of Arnold's historic ferry terminal. “But certainly for the time being, until we can get stuff resolved on that end, we’re using that other dock as a stop gap.”
The new owners of the property, Melanie Libby and Ira Green, say they are also interested in working out a deal. They run a bike rental business there and the plans for a hotel have been shelved.
Speaking to IPR on Monday, Libby did not indicate there’s been any progress.
