Marysville has a blast

As thunderous cracks rang across the St. Clair River, the smokestacks of the Mighty Marysville toppled and crumpled after standing for 93 years as a Blue Water Area landmark.

A giant plume of dust took nearly two minutes to cross the river, enveloping the bumper-to-bumper traffic lining the Canadian shore.

In the river, law enforcement officials kept nearly 100 recreation boaters out of harm's way.

"It seemed to go well," said St. Clair County Sheriff Dive Team Chief Wayne Brusate. "It was exciting, it seemed very controlled and it seemed they put it right where they wanted it."

The implosion left a mound of rubble where the towering power plant once stood.

"It's a great day when nothing goes wrong," said Matt Graham, a member of the dive team.

Jeff, Becky and Kayla Brougham, of Marysville, were among a large crowd on Myrtlewood Street in Marysville with a clear view across Morton Park when the plant came crashing down at 8 a.m. Saturday.

"It was the coolest thing I've sever seen," Jeff Brougham said.

"The building's been here so long," Becky Brougham said, "Everybody is used to seeing it. Hopefully, the city will do something nice with it."

"I thought it was really cool and stuff," Kayla Brougham said. "It's going to be weird not seeing it."

At least four camera drones hovered over the park but outside the safety zone. A fixed wing aircraft and an ultralight circled the building.

Tom Konik, Marysville public safety chief, said in a statement that the implosion went off as planned.

"I would like to thank the public that came to watch for adhering to the safety zone and following officers' directions," he said.

"Aside from an ultralight that was in the area we had to time the explosion around, the felling went as planned. No injuries were reported and traffic was restored by 8:30."

The implosion was so precise that the glass globes in antique streetlamps near the plant along Busha Highway weren't cracked.

Hours after the implosion, people in cars still were stopping along Busha Highway to take photos of the mound of twisted steel and bricks.

The explosive charges that brought down the building caught many in the large crowd by surprise as they went off in succession.

Rick Dzurnak, a Marysville native who lives in Clinton Township, didn't get the start of the implosion on video.

"A lot of people are going to be disappointed they didn't have a siren," he said.

"A lot of people are going to be crying because they didn't get their cameras ready."

Dzurnak said the view he's seen all his life will be different without the power plant.

Ralph and Marlene Brow were watching from the parking lot of the Harsens Island Brewery on Gratiot Boulevard.

"He used to work there and he had uncles who built it," Marlene Brow said. "We had a lot of relatives at this plant."

"I just wanted to see it," Ralph Brow said, "It outlived its usefulness."

Eric Larsen, of Burtchville Township, works at DTE Energy's Belle River Power Plant. He said he joined the company in 1976 and worked at the Mighty Marysville.

He said he wouldn't be sad to watch it tumble.

"It seems like the right thing to do, to take that down," he said. "It's not being used.

"It will be nice, use that space for something new."

On Oct. 19, Marysville city officials unveiled a proposal for the space that would include a five-story hotel, condominiums, restaurants, a banquet hall, outdoor seating, café and specialty food shops, a general retail building and a riverfront promenade.

Also included would be space for a park, a fitness center, a marina and public dock and bike paths.

Candi and Tom Lozowski, of East China Township, and Donna and Jim Howard, from Port Huron, had staked out a site with lawn chairs along Gratiot with other members of the Blue Water Parrothead Club.

"This is going to be a bittersweet event," Donna Howard said. "I grew up in the Salt Blocks (a residential area in Marysville) and I remember when Morton Salt was right there next to the plant and this was the drive-in."

Rocky Maynard, from Warren, had his Canon camera set up on a tripod on Gratiot. He was with Zack Carlson, who lives in New Baltimore.

"How many times have you ever seen a building demolished in your lifetime?" Maynard asked. "And you can get up close and personal."

Carlson was shooting video with an iPhone.

"I had nothing better to do on a Saturday morning," he said.

Maynard was much more enthusiastic.

"I think the opportunities are rather slim to a see a building of this caliber imploded," he said.

Christy Greenlaw, of Marysville, was sitting in the bed of a Ford 250 pickup on Myrtlewood Street when the charges went off. She was shooting video on a smartphone.

"Wow!" she said. "That's about it.

"It happened a lot quicker than I expected. My heart's still beating."

"We got here at 20 after 6 just to get a front row seat," said her husband, Larry.

"For 20 seconds," Christy added.

Mike Kulbacki, of Kimball Township, also had a front row seat on Myrtlewood.

"It was sweet," he said. "I wish it had been a little longer and they had let us know with a countdown. You only get to see this once. It's not every day you get to see a building come down."

Pat Francesconi was among the watchers on Gratiot.

"I've lived in Marysville all my life, born and raised," she said., "It's a big change, but hopefully it's progress, and that's a good thing.

"My dad worked at the Edison. He didn't work at this plant, but I remember Christmas parties at the clubhouse."

She said she wasn't sad about the change to Marysville's skyline.

"It's history, I guess," she said. "You have memories, and sometimes progress starts new history."

Bill and Barb Ford, from Wales Township, were at the Harsens Island Brewery with their grandchildren, Mason, 9, and Maya, 6.. The kids are from Rochester.

"It's not something you see every day," Barb Ford said.

The kids were having a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house when they decided to get up early to watch the power plant come down.

"I've never seen an explosion," Mason said. "This is a really big building."

Matt Coletti, of Macomb Township, was in the parking lot of the brewery after the implosion, watching aerial video he'd shot from a drone. The explosive charges looked like Christmas lights twinkling as they severed the steel columns holding up the building.

"I thought it was cool," Coletti said. "It was different. I had never seen an implosion before."

His friends, Jeff Weber, of Clinton Township, and Mike McKenna, of Rochester, were checking out the video.

"I thought it was really cool," McKenna said. "I didn't expect to feel the pressure."

"There was kind of a lot of people here, more than I expected," Weber said.

A loud cheer went up after the building fell and a large plume of dust rose into the air — but McKenna said it didn't seem as if everyone came to party.

"It was strange because a lot of people were clapping, and other people looked like they were kind of sad," he said.

Contact Bob Gross at (810) 989-6263 or rgross@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobertGross477.