IDLEWILD, Mich. (AP) — A sheriff has donated $2,000 from returnable cans and bottles for improvement projects at Idlewild. It served as a major summer resort for African Americans in Michigan's northwestern Lower Peninsula.
The Lake County sheriff's office turns returnables into cash for local organizations. Yates Township, where Idlewild is located, will get the money.
Some of the money will go for renovations at the Flamingo Club, where many iconic Black artists, including James Brown, performed. From the 1940s to the 1960s, thousands of Black people would regularly travel each year to Idlewild. But its popularity began to fade when other resorts welcomed Black people following passage of the 1964 civil rights law.
