A Love Story? Skeptics remain, but Michael Moore has loyal following in GOP-leaning Mich. town

Michael Moore makes friends in GOP-leaning town

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Seated on a platform in a blocked-off street, the founder of the Traverse City Film Festival grinned as Mayor Michael Estes hailed him for boosting the local economy and cultural scene — “with almost no government assistance!”

Who was that free-market champion? Michael Moore.

Yes, THAT Michael Moore. The Oscar-winning firebrand whose “Roger & Me” attacked General Motors, whose “Sicko” extolled government-run health care. His latest film, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” which opens nationwide Friday, blames deregulation for the financial meltdown and shows Franklin D. Roosevelt advocating an expanded welfare state.

Yet here was Moore in his festival’s fifth season, exchanging pleasantries with business and civic leaders in this largely Republican community, surrounded by fans offering hugs and handshakes.

“This guy is a great promoter, a great businessman. He’s done so much for Traverse City, more than we can imagine,” Estes said.

Moore, 55, is widely celebrated — and reviled — as a left-wing scourge of big business.

But in this resort town of 15,000 on Lake Michigan, a five-hour drive northwest of Detroit, his image is more complex. Since moving to the area six years ago, Moore has become a high-profile citizen and benefactor.

In addition to starting the festival — which has attracted Hollywood figures such as Madonna, comedian Jeff Garlin and “Borat” director Larry Charles — he helped restore a historic theater and brought his film production company to town.

All the while, he’s befriended local residents with widely divergent beliefs.

“We share a desire to have our community thrive, improve the arts and culture, find ways to bring in more jobs,” Moore said in an interview. “I really have more common ground with the Republicans in this area than the things we disagree on.”

But he acknowledged some business and civic leaders were suspicious at first: “They seemed to think I wanted to turn the place into the People’s Republic of Traverse City.”

Moore and his wife, Kathleen Glynn, moved here from New York after his mother’s death to be closer to his father, a retired auto worker in Flint.

Two years later, Moore teamed with author Doug Stanton and photographer John Robert Williams to establish the festival, a godsend for local tourism. Moore said he’d grown tired of driving 250 miles to Detroit or Ann Arbor to see a foreign film or documentary, and was concerned about the decreasing quality of movies in the typical cineplex.

The festival’s premiere event in July 2005 drew overflow crowds. Moore critics sponsored a competing “freedom film festival,” but few attended.

For the first festival, organizers renovated and reopened the State Theatre, a long-shuttered downtown movie house. Over the next two years, Moore negotiated with the owner — Rotary Charities of Traverse City — to operate it full-time as a nonprofit. Eventually, the group handed over the $1.2 million facility for free.

It’s now a glittering showplace, one of the nation’s top-grossing theaters — featuring not just art-house and classic films but broadcasts of the Metropolitan opera and sporting events, while attracting customers to downtown restaurants and shops.

“I don’t like Michael Moore’s movies. I don’t like his message,” said Al Bonney, 65, a Rotary Charities board member. “But I certainly like what he’s done for this town. The guy has shown he’s legit and honest and he believes in serving the community, so he’s OK by me.”

Moore has talked up the area to Hollywood pals. Moore and Garlin, a star and executive producer of the HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” plan next year to start a Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival.

“People have mentioned to me the irony that between the film festival and the State Theatre, what they’ve done for the local economy, the millions of dollars they’ve brought in … I’ve ended up helping many Republican businessmen survive, or at least do better,” a chuckling Moore said. “But life is full of ironies.”

Each year, the festival has grown. This year’s included 71 feature movies and 50 shorts, panel discussions with filmmakers and classes for youths.

An army of volunteers keeps the festival and State Theatre going.

“There’s such loyalty to Michael,” said Sara Klebba, who works for a brew pub. “You see him walking down the street, shopping, eating at the restaurants — he supports us and we’re all behind him.”

But he still has critics around town.

“I’d call him unpatriotic,” said Randy Sniff, 35, who works for an oil and gas company and has never attended the festival.

Still, Moore sees his detente with many local conservatives as a model.

“If a guy like me, who’s been billed as Public Enemy No. 1 by Rush Limbaugh and Fox News … can make friends and break bread and work to improve his community alongside his Republican neighbors, maybe it can happen anywhere,” he said.