1971 Super Star Story

Nov 8, 2014. We had the thrill and honor today of meeting Martin Roy, his son, Brandon, and their friend, Paul-Emile Vachon. They drove 14 hours from Quebec to come here and pick up the 71 Super Star, which belonged to Larry & Tammy Bicigo. Today we understood why Martin was bugging Larry so much about buying this machine. His dad is the one who made them! Here is a picture of his dad, Martin and his brother with the Super Star back in 1970. His dad made approximately 40 in 1971 and a guy from Lansing, MI came to pick up 26 of them to take back to Lansing to sell. Martin even had pictures of the truck and load of 26 machines. .Unfortunately, the Lansing guy wrote a check for the sleds and it bounced. This tragic move caused the Super Star to become a legend. The Lansing guy (they think his name was Lathrop), tore all of the machines down and sold some of the parts. Martin's dad went to Lansing to rescue the sleds, but he was too late. He did return home with some parts, but he lost $26,000, causing him to close the company. Martin still has the very first machine made and took it to an International Show in Quebec a couple years ago and it took a 1st place. Martin's son, Brandon, was doing a search for the Super Star and the picture of the one in our museum popped up. That got his attention! He showed it to his dad, and here they are at the museum today. Larry & Tammy realized how much this sled means to this family, so they were happy to sell it and send it home where it belongs.

Top of the Lake Snowmobile Museum News Release-2023 On September 22, 2023 the Michigan Arts and Culture Council (MACC) in conjunction with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced it would be generously awarding the Top of the Lake Snowmobile Museum in Naubinway an $8750 grant for operational support during 2024. MACC uses a peer review process to award grants. More than 700 organizations across the state applied for funding. Each grant application is competitively judged; awardees are chosen to ensure Michigan residents and visitors have access to the most authentic aspects of local arts and culture. Organizations receiving a grant award from MACC/NEA are required to match those funds with other public or private dollars. The Top of the Lake Snowmobile Museum receives a great deal of donated monetary support through its memberships and visitors and plans to use these funds to match the MACC grant award. There are 141 active museum members not including lifetime members and more than 7000 visitors just last year.

The museum has plans to bring more local art-related activities to our conference room and develop a program for groups with special needs. This support will go toward the cost of wages and advertising for these activities. On Sept 20, 2019, The Top of the Lake Snowmobile Museum was awarded a grant of $12,500 for Operational Support from the State of Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA – ART WORKS). The grant was awarded through the MCACA peer review process and was one of 561 applications to compete for MCACA fiscal year 2019 funding. The grant requires a 1:1 match and helped the museum leverage the $12,500 of support from its annual income and the many donations from supporters. In particular the museum has received grants from the Graymont Community Economic Development Fund and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. It has also received significant donations from the Antique Snowmobile Club of America, The Midwest Vintage Snowmobile Shows, Inc., many snowmobile clubs, several recreational and snowmobile shows, the museum’s internal $1,000.00 Challenge, and many museum members. The grant funds will be applied to museum operating costs. Applicable costs include internal operations, marketing, travel to shows within the State of Michigan and cost of employees. The MCACA peer review process allows for each grant applicant to be competitively considered by a panel of in-state and out-of-state arts and culture professionals. This ensures the taxpayers, who support this project through legislative appropriations, and all other visitors or residents in Michigan will have access to the highest quality arts and cultural experiences. A complete list of grant awards around the state is available by contacting MCACA at (517) 241-4011, or by visiting the MCACA website at www.michigan.gov/arts