FRANKFORT — Three Frankfort Lake Michigan drownings occurring between 2018 and 2020, and more than a dozen incidents of people swept off its pier, gave momentum to community efforts in preventing further tragedies.
The Benzie County town has established itself as a Great Lakes water safety leader. January could mark another milestone in community-wide efforts.
The nonprofit Benzie Wellness and Aquatic Center hopes to reach an agreement this month with Benzie Central Schools to acquire the former Crystal Lake Elementary School. If an agreement is struck, the nonprofit would develop the property as a community center in which two pools would accommodate swimming lessons, water safety classes, lifeguard training and fitness programs.
“As soon as we get the site, we’ll begin a capital campaign,” said BWAC board president Diane Tracy.
The community knows too well the lake’s hazards. In a single day in the mid-2000s 12 people were washed off the Frankfort North Breakwater Lighthouse pier. In 2020, when a young local boy drowned, the grieving community took innovative action. Frankfort worked with the federal government, and in 2001 became the first Great Lakes community to install lifesaving rings along its pier.
“The majority of piers on the Great Lakes now have a life ring based on what our community did,” said City Superintendent Joshua Mills.
Frankfort is not alone in realizing the need to improve water safety. According to the World Health Organization, drowning is one of the world’s most preventable, neglected and persistent public health issues.
Frankfort’s beach environment is vulnerable to several Lake Michigan water hazards linked to drowning. Founder of the Illinois-based Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project David Benjamin said wind and waves create rip currents, longshore and outlet currents, and currents caused by structures such as piers and jetties. Public education, lifeguards, rescue signage, beach signage and access to rescue equipment are essential to reducing drownings, he said.
In 2023, 39 individuals drowned in Lake Michigan and six others were listed in critical condition, according to GLSRP. Despite nearly half of all Great Lakes drownings occurring in Lake Michigan, Michigan State Parks, Sleeping Bear Dunes Lakeshore and many beach communities fail to provide lifeguards or even access to basic life-saving rings. Some offer a flag warning system which experts consider largely ineffective.
“It must have a dedicated beach monitor present with eyes on the water to update the color-coded beach flag or light in real time when conditions are changing,” Benjamin said.
Mills explained that financial resources and government liability can challenge a city’s efforts to implement water safety measures.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers owns the Frankfort pier, but federal funding falls short of needs to address public safety, Benjamin said. He noted that the federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative provides $1 billion in the 2024 fiscal year budget to address industrial pollution and invasive species.
“It had almost zero dollars to protect people from Great Lakes drownings,” he said.
Funded through a Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians grant, Frankfort went high tech in 2021, taking its water safety program to a new level. It became the first community in the world to install the SwimSmart system. Based on the familiar color-coded traffic light approach, the solar-powered system was designed by a Michigan Technological University professor and grad student. It automatically updates lake hazard warnings using real time information from NOAA’s Gaylord weather station. Systems were installed near the Frankfort pier and a second near the parking area.
Benzie Wellness and Aquatic Center volunteers in 2021 and 2022 supported the SwimSmart introduction by meeting beach goers on site during busy weekends to show beach visitors how the system enhances safety. For the past three years, the center also provided free swim and water safety lessons to children completing grades K-6.
The City of Frankfort is coordinating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on plans to construct a new breakwater and expects to integrate safety measures. In other efforts, Mills said the community is considering gating the pier during dangerous periods and implementing buoys to monitor wave heights.
Mills and Benjamin agree that public education is essential in preventing Great Lakes drownings. Winter can be a prime time for teaching youth water safety in schools.
“The most impact with the least exposure is going into classrooms and educating kids on the dangers of rip currents, and how they can swim through them,” Mills said. He suggests communities engage the U.S. Coast Guard in water safety education.
Benjamin served as a consultant on “Rip Current Survival,” a documentary filmed in more than a dozen countries. It premiered in December at the World Conference on Drowning in Perth, Australia. The film shows why the Great Lakes are drowning hotspots and features west Michigan incidents.
View the documentary for free at youtube.com/watch?v=RXgAGBlB9Vs.