Visitors to the attraction — who must wear masks and maintain social distancing requirements — will find 10 different audio-visual installations along the trail. The attraction opened in early August and has proven a hit, Bluewater executives said. More than 15,000 tickets have been sold so far at a cost of $20 per adult, and the attraction is sold out through September.
Bluewater Technologies had about $75 million in revenue last year and expects a decrease of about 20 percent this year, with nearly all of the declines stemming from losses from the company’s live events business. The company furloughed many workers from that segment of the business, but has been able to bring back some to accommodate Glenlore, as well as other segments of the business, according to Bob Marsh, Bluewater’s vice president of sales.
The idea of doing some kind of outdoor AV installation had been on the minds of Bluewater executives for some time, even ahead of the pandemic, CEO John Tracy said.
“As soon as COVID popped up, right at that point, that’s when the pivot occurred,” Tracy said, noting that the property in Commerce Township in northwest Oakland County “fit perfectly” with the ideas they had been pursuing.
Now Tracy and Marsh, say they’re fielding calls from around the country with interest in replicating the AV installations in other venues.
While work for Bluewater remains steady across several of its business units, such as workplace technology for connectivity, executives there say they see opportunity to add themed entertainment such as Glenlore as a new company operation.
“We can build them on our own and have a ticket-based program, we could build them for a brand and put them around in different locations around the state or the country,” Marsh said. “I think we see clearly consumers are interested in it. I think there’s a lot of places this could go.”
