It Will Be a Cold Day in...

...Hell before we would attend something like the promotion in this little town just around the corner from Portage Lake (where we grew up in southeastern Michigan). We have, however, been known to imbibe from time to time at the Damn Site Inn, especially with sister Ruth who, at least before she got old, liked to do a bit of country line-dancing there on an otherwise slow night in the 'hood.

Lordy, now Hell even has its own devilish website.

Ann Arbor is the larger, better known nearby town; but maybe not tomorrow -- at least for the day -- when the calendar says it is the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year in the new millenium:


HELL, MICH. (AP, Sun 4 Jun, 7:04 AM ET) - They're planning a hot time in Hell on Tuesday. The day bears the date of 6-6-06, or abbreviated as 666 — a number that carries hellish significance. And there's not a snowball's chance in Hell that the day will go unnoticed in the unincorporated hamlet 60 miles west of Detroit.

Nobody is more fired up than John Colone, the town's self-styled mayor and owner of a souvenir shop.

"I've got `666' T-shirts and mugs. I'm only ordering 666 (of the items) so once they're gone, that's it," said Colone, also known as Odum Plenty. "Everyone who comes will get a letter of authenticity saying you've celebrated June 6, 2006, in Hell."

Most of Colone's wares will sell for $6.66, including deeds to one square inch of Hell.

Live entertainment and a costume contest are planned. The Gates of Hell should be installed at a children's play area in time for the festivities.

"They're 8 feet tall and 5 foot wide and each gate looks like flames, and when they're closed, it's a devil's head," Colone told The Detroit News for a Saturday story.

Mike "Smitty" Hickey, owner of the Dam Site Inn, wasn't sure what kind of clientele would show up Tuesday.

"We're all about having fun here. I don't think we're going to get the cult crowd, the devil worshippers or anything like that," said Hickey, whose bar's signature concoction is the Bloody Devil, a variant of the Bloody Mary.

Colone, meanwhile, has been in touch with radio stations as far away as San Diego and Seattle that are raffling off trips to Hell in honor of 6-6-6.


Full story: Hell, Mich heats up for 6-6-6 party

I did not realize 'til today that our home Portage Yacht Club (Pinckney, MI mailing address) has the same zip code as Hell. According to Hell's Wikipedia entry, in the early 1930s, Pinckney, MI postmaster W. C. Miller began to receive requests from stamp and postmark collectors for cancellations: Hell had no post office, and Pinckney was barely three miles away. On July 15th, 1961, a postal substation was established at Hell. It remains today, at the back of Hell's general store.



Memories: no doubt it'll be a hot time in the old town
tomorrow.