MARQUETTE — Marquette’s Ore Dock is an attraction — but one group wants to make it even more.

Right now, it’s a visible attraction — but many in the community, including Mayor Dave Campana, think it would be feasible and beneficial to make it a physical attraction. The Mayor listened to the Friends of the Ore Dock BotEco Center as they presented ideas for how to make it happen at tonight’s City Commission meeting.

“This group that’s presenting tonight would like to turn (the Ore Dock) into a botanical garden community gathering place. They have plans to build a walk-way promenade around it,” said Mayor, Dave Campana, “They want to have an area where you can have community events with tourist people attending. They would have receptions, parties, concerts. They hope to secure funding through grants to make this all happen.

But to do so, the Friends of the Ore Dock BotEco Center will have to deal with the DEQ, which has strict rules as far as how the Ore Dock can be used. The Mayor liked the group’s ideas, but they’ll have to raise a lot of money to make it happen.