Sault Ste. Marie is a staple to any Michigander traveling around the state. While the Soo Locks are impressive, there’s a lot more to Sault Ste Marie than just the locks. Linda Hoath, Executive Director of the Sault Ste Marie Conventions and Visitor’s Bureau (CVB) shares with us not only a bit of history but also what other activities are going on in Sault Ste Marie to make it a true destination.
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Learn more about Sault Ste Marie at https://saultstemarie.com/
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Transcript
Not only do we do, marketing for the area, we're a destination builder also. We want to build our destination. We want to be, to have our community grow. We want the people here to be successful in everything they do.
Cliff Duvernois:Hello everyone, and welcome back to Total Michigan. I am your host, Cliff DuVernois. In this show, we showcase the Ordinary Michiganders who are doing some pretty Extraordinary Things. I'm in Sault Ste Marie this week, capturing all kinds of amazing stories. And the first thing I usually do when I reach out to, a new area is I say, Hey, I'm coming into town and I would like to get connected with people, is I reach out to their, convention and visitors bureau, which is what led me to today's guest. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the show, probably the best ambassador for the City of Sault Ste Marie, and that would be Linda Hoath, Executive Director of the Convention Visitors Bureau, or the C V b. Linda. How are you?
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:I am wonderful, Cliff, and thank you for being here. I'm excited about you being here
Cliff Duvernois:thank you. It's great. And for our, friends, on YouTube, if you're watching this right now, we're sitting with a spectacular view of the St. Mary's River that's behind us, gorgeous Park. The weather has just been absolutely perfect this week.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Oh, it's perfect. Almost always, because if we need rain, it comes. If we need snow, it comes. So it's always perfect in Sault Ste. Marie.
Cliff Duvernois:So you can see when I said she's the perfect ambassador for Sault Ste Marie. I was not pulling any punches. Linda, tell us where you from? Where did you grow up?
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Yeah,
Cliff Duvernois:there you go. In a nutshell.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Yeah. I have a small little town for about 10 years, just south of here and called Detour. I lived there cuz my dad was working there. And then he was transferred back up to the Soo. So Sault Ste Marie's been my home.
Cliff Duvernois:And you've been, you've lived here all your life?
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Yes. I mean, when I was a teenager I did go to New York. I had to work in Manhattan. you have to do those things. When I was 18, I went out there,
Cliff Duvernois:kinda get the city outta your
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Oh. And boy did I, so it was, yeah, it was like, I think it was almost a year I was out there. I said, that's enough. And then I came back and then I went to C M U. I lived in Mount Pleasant for three years. So it, and then I've been back here ever since.
Cliff Duvernois:What'd you get your degree in? Oh, you didn't finish
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:I didn't finish the degree. I was gonna be a school teacher. Oh, here I am.
Cliff Duvernois:So you come back to Sault Saint Marie. What made you decide to get into the tourism business?
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:I was in transportation. Okay. Okay. I worked for Kewadin Casinos here. We had the great opportunity of building a motor coach company, which, you've gotta put, you always, people say in hotels, heads and beds. we had to put butts in seats. And heads and beds. I started there with, I did transportation for years. I even had my, I was a state examiner. For the state of Michigan, giving people driver's licenses and stuff like that. So, I mean, it's a long history. But then I worked Kewadin and we, they built a motor coach company. And I ran that motor coach started into marketing. You gotta market, you gotta get those people in there. Always in marketing. I don't care what job you're in marketing, you're representing that, that employer. So it's a very important thing. So yeah, that's how I ended up in marketing. And then I got tired of working 24 7. It was a great job and I loved working for the Sioux Tribe Ojibway Indians. They're amazing. I learned more there than I could have ever learned in a classroom. So it's, I have been blessed there. This opening came at the CVB and it was open, no, they didn't hire anybody for six months, And, I was on Mackinaw Island at a meeting. And one of the board members was there, and I asked, did you get an executive director yet? And she says, no. Are you interested?
Cliff Duvernois:Oh, there you go.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:And I said, no, Patty, I got a really good job. Well, by the end of the meeting I said, what's it all about? And, She said, let's do lunch. So we did lunch and she, I, and she made me, put my resume in. And then I had to go back to Kewadin because the head of the board of directors here and I would've done anyway, cuz Carol Eva was a great friend. Sure. But she was my boss. And so I had, she was president of the CVB back then, so I let her know I was going. So she was, yeah, she was excited that I did that. And now we're going on 22 years. I'm here. They hired me interview within an hour later they hired me.
Cliff Duvernois:Nice. And I know that in my travels and doing other interviews out there. So I did an interview with, dave Lorenz from Pure michigan, and when I said, Hey, who should I reach out to in the area? Your name came up. Now you've been involved with the Pure Michigan campaign. So talk to us a little bit about that.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:We can be, became partners in 2007. And we've been a partner for something every year since, except for during Covid. But, you know, it's just, with, without Pure Michigan, Sault, St. Marie would not be what it is today. Because of the simple fact is we've got a sister city. Are you right across the river? Yes. To Saint Marie Ontario. And every time I went somewhere they'd say, where are you from? I'd say sault Saint Marie. They'd say ontario. They no longer say that. Yes. They no longer say that. So yeah, Pure Michigan has been Godsend for us.
Cliff Duvernois:And talk to us a little bit about that partnership with them and how exactly that works. Cuz I know that for the most part, the Pure Michigan campaign really is about getting people to come to Michigan. Your goal is to get people to come. Sault Ste marie. So talk to us about how that partnership works.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:I can't afford the half a million, so I don't do the big splashes like some of the other cities did. But when we started off, we did radio. Okay. And we picked out where, and it was Sault Ste marie. And, I still have every one of those that Tim Allen has done. So we did radio and we did it in different places. And it's, it's 50 50. We put in 50% and they put in 50%, and we're able to go out and do more. We bring it to the website. It goes as a partner. You're on their website, but you're, in a little bit better place. You're not, I'm Sault Ste Marie. I'm an s and you're doing alphabetic. We're at the bottom. Yeah. So now we're at the top. So, you know, you can, uh, work, but that has been a godsend for us. But now we're doing other things too. We did some digital with them. I this year we're doing, we're gonna do an episode on Under the Radar. They were here over the winter. They're gonna be back this summer. And we also did an arrivalist. So I, an arrivalist is a program Okay. That I can go in and look and see what people came to Sault Ste Marie so I can match it up to my marketing and see, because that's what I like. I'm a numbers person. I like that. I like knowing, tell the story that's, and I love stories, so it's, it's really helped this year in being able to see, I'm able to do economic impacts better. during the I 500, snowmobile race this year, I could go on arrivals. I saw there was 171 day trippers, and then I can also go in and see do they spend one night, do they spend two nights? Do how, what is the percentage? Three and four. So it's, It helps, but I could not afford that if I didn't do a partnership with Pure Michigan. We're a small c b, we don't have the big dollars like a lot of 'em do, but, we sure stretch of and make it happen.
Cliff Duvernois:I think too, that by looking at the data, it actually helps you to spend your money better and be able to take a look at the programs that are really working for you to get people to come here and spend their money.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Yes. And you know what? Michigan. It's not just about the advertising we do together, it's about the connection we have with them and their marketing agency. McCann Erickson, when we first started, came right up here. Now mm. G y is there, if I have a problem, I have that access to more, then I would've had, I would have to find my own way there. But, that's the greatest gift Pure Michigan gives. They're part of Medc. We also, not only do we do, marketing for the area, we're a destination builder also. We want to build our destination. We want to be, to have our community grow. We want the people here to be successful in everything they do.
Cliff Duvernois:And I can tell you from the last few days that I've been here that you can really see the results of your work. Cuz there's a lot of passionate people around here, very excited about what's happening in their community.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:We have gotten rid of the silos. There's no silos anymore. We all work together. And he said, and once a month, the Chamber of Commerce here, the DDA Downtown Development Authority, and myself have lunch. So we can keep up with each other. And also with those, we're on boards together too, on different boards, and we all support each other. Like the 4th of July parade. All three of us are involved. That's our parade. it's, it's about bringing everybody together. I said, I like connecting the dots. No one can stand alone.
Cliff Duvernois:And that's one of the things that I've learned repeatedly in my conversations with you since I've been here, is that a lot of people are serving on different boards. So it's allowed for this really, like really beautiful display of interconnectedness between, like you were just talking about there, all of the different organizations that are here. So you're acting as one.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Exactly. And uh, you can see right here, where we're sitting today is the old federal building is now city hall. And it's been restored to its original way of looking and it's gorgeous. But we rent from the city. We do not belong to the city. Right. But we rent from the city and being a part of the city and everybody that's here, it's just a bigger connection. It's just a bigger source. Hey, do you know so and Can I get, Hey, who does this? Does anybody know who does this? So it's just that connections and then connecting those dots.
Cliff Duvernois:And so when you made the transition from working at the casino and you've applied for the executive director's spot at the CVB and you've gotten it, talk to us about some of those like early challenges that you had coming on board.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Coming on board, it just felt like everybody, the ch biggest challenge was communication. Between the different organizations. there, that's almost, that's over 20 years ago, the mentality was mind. mine, that mentality's not there anymore. The silo you were referring to the silo. Yep. it's not mine, mine, mine. It's ours. We can do this together better. It's our community. Yeah. And it's our region. And it's our up and it's our state. And you don't just you don't stop at just yours. It's reaching out, it's continuing reaching out, So people know this great city and first city in michigan, Yeah. 1668. Lot of history here. Lot of history here. Great. Na, no Native American community. 13% of the people here are Sioux Tribe members or Bay Mills members. So you gotta take a look at the culture we have up here. We already, we live this culture and have for years.
Cliff Duvernois:When you were talking before about the communication being a challenge, talk to us a little bit how you worked to overcome that. You showed up.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:I'd get invited to things. I'd go, I was, I'm, oh, and I still do that to this day if I get invited. Last night I was at an arts council. I showed up, I show up and it just gives me more knowledge too, to be able to tell others. So it's like showing up for people and being there and know that, that they can count on you and you, that's how the dots start connecting. Last night there was the arts council from the region. And she says, Linda, do you think I can call you and we can talk about how you do these things? And I said, sure you can. Because we want it all to grow. We don't, we don't want it all to ourselves. We wanna expand it on out, make it better.
Cliff Duvernois:So is there any other organizations besides Pure michigan that you're working with?
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Yeah. Brand usa.
Cliff Duvernois:Okay. I'm gonna be the first one to raise my hand and say I have no idea what that is.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:So Dave Lorenzo's on that board too. And it's, it's a marketing, it's a marketing area and it's international. It's across the states too. it's all, when we were before the pandemic, we were actually working with Pure Michigan through Brand USA on, they buy something in Brand USA magazine and we would buy a little portion of that. So it's another type of a partnership. So where we can show off Michigan, but Sault Ste Marie can be a part of it. The organizations, that do you have, that you can tap into. And you have to figure out if it works for you? Some, at some places it doesn't work,
Cliff Duvernois:right?
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:so it's about, there's a nice salute. to You guys, that's a salute you're hearing.
Cliff Duvernois:I know if the microphone's picked that up, but it
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:hey, sounds kinda cool. It is really cool. But it depends on, we're, of course we're an international community. We have the International Bridge right here, and I'm on the board of directors of that.
Cliff Duvernois:See, like I said, everybody's on everybody's board.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Yeah. And it, that's appointed by the governor. And I was appointed by Schneider and then reappointed by Whitmer. its, it, it's a great board of directors because it's the international. You have four people from Ottawa, Canada. And then you have four people from the state of michigan and we're the board of directors. We've been on it 12 years now. So it's it's awesome board where you get to see people working together, People trying to make things better. And that bridge is better. But you've got people from the Ottawa government comes down, a private company. This is how that all started. It's 60 years old this year. So it's, there's just so much and it's, the opportunity that I get to see is, tracking people coming over from Canada. We're only down 31% after the pandemic, which is really good. And cuz we don't get the traffic that Detroit gets. Yes. But we had a lot of traffic here too, so it's, yeah. it's just pulling it all together, being a part of,
Cliff Duvernois:So when you're talking about being on this board, you got four people from ottawa, you got four people from the Michigan side. How do you work together with them? And I'm gonna be a little selfish here, but how do you work together with them to try to get as many canadians across the border as you can?
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:And we do it both ways. We do it both ways. We want them coming and we want ours to go over. They got some really cool restaurants over there that we don't have here. We don't have the population, but you have 70,000 people over there. We work both ways. I did a partnership with Brand USA and Pure Michigan, advertising in Canada you? literally right there across river right there. Yes. You know, I said, I have relatives there. My sister-in-law was born in Sault, Ontario. There's no separation in us. We've been going over there since I was a little kid. And you do know how old I am, but I'm not saying it on air. but it's always been a part of our life. My grandfather came from Italy through Canada. He's the only one that came to the uS. His brother stayed in canada in the late 18 hundreds.
Cliff Duvernois:I love those little stories like that, just
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:little, That's, life. Life has stories. Love
Cliff Duvernois:They always do. For our audience, we're gonna take a quick break, to thank our sponsors. When Linda comes back, she's gonna talk to us about the awesome events that are going on in sa St. Marie and what you can expect when you come up here. We'll see you after the break. Are you enjoying these amazing stories? Michigan is full of people doing some pretty extraordinary things. If you want these amazing stories sent directly to your inbox, head over to total michigan.com/join. What are you gonna get? I'm glad you asked. First, you're gonna join our awesome Michigan community. And second, you'll get an email with the top five interviews from the show sent directly to your inbox. This is going to include not only the powerful lessons that we've learned, but the amazing stories that these people have to share. Third, you'll get exclusive behind the scenes information about the show. There's a lot of things that are happening to grow this movement beyond the confines of just a radio show and a podcast. To get these goodies, head over to total michigan.com/join. Enter your email and join our awesome community. Hello everyone and welcome back to Total Michigan. I'm your host, Cliff DuVernois. Today we're talking with Linda Hoath, the best ambassador, Executive Director of the Sault Ste. Marie, CVB and Linda. so before the break we were talking about a little bit about the history, getting people to come to Sault Ste. Marie. What I'd like to do is I'd like to spend some time and talk about, when people come here, what are some of the events that are going on that they should see, that they should check out?
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:You're probably gonna be able to see this throughout the whole year, so let's go back a week. We had just had the international bridge walk. Yes. Okay. It's an awesome walk. It's between two countries. It's done by the Chamber of Commerce in Canada, in Sault, Ontario, and Sault St. Marie, Michigan. So they do a great job. That is usually on the same weekend as Engineers Day, but since it's the July 1st is the canadian holiday, we don't, they, we are not gonna make them work on that day. So
Cliff Duvernois:What is Engineer's Day?
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Engineer's day is the most awesome day. It is a day, it's the one day a year. That you actually can walk inside the Soo locks, you can get between the two locks and see, you can see a freighter coming and going as long as, remember this is commerce. It's not always, they're not on time all the time, But the freighters come through here and you can actually be there in there and see them and talk to the people on the freighters. And you can do that from outside too. But it's just that one day a year you can talk to the engineers, you can see the historical buildings that they have. The main building has marble floors and a marble staircase that goes up and winds. It's just that history of, oh, they opened up in, uh, 1855. Yeah. And they're not the first lock. The first lock was on the, uh, on Canada's side. And, during the war of 1812, we blew it up. We weren't very nice. that, that type of thing is the locks are very important. it's the commerce. So it's a day that you get to talk to those people that are actually inside there doing it. And with the new lock being build built, you'll be able to talk to Kaine cuz they're gonna have a booth there. You're gonna be able to talk to people that know what's going on inside. And you're gonna be able to enjoy it. But it's the one day a year and it's, from nine to about 3 3 30. They start shoving you out at three 30, they want you out by four.
Cliff Duvernois:But
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:it
Cliff Duvernois:it's army core. Yes.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:And you get to see your tax dollars at work.
Cliff Duvernois:That would be cool to see. so we've talked about, engineer's day.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Yeah. What are some oh, Parades. oh, we have a, we always have the 4th of July parade. There you go. Always. And usually our fireworks is on the river, but this year it can't be because of the army. The new lock that's being built is full of right now, has a lot of fuel and explosives over there. So we're moving it up to Sanderson, airfield here in town. But that's, it's in great day. We do a whole parade and then we go right to the fireworks afterwards and the whole town shows up. It's great. The region, and then you can go down to the river and you can look up in Brimley and you can see the fireworks going off, up there too. Nice. So it's just, you can see the whole region. We work together and, it, it's awesome. And after the 4th of July, the events that we do, I have a total of five fishing tournaments this year. We just had one passed and it went well. And now we have, two walleye coming up and two, bass tournaments. that's cool. Yeah, it, we bring in a lot of, of events ourselves. So we have that happening this summer and then we have, paranormal convention
Cliff Duvernois:coming up in September.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Yeah, the end of August. August. yeah. Weekend before labor Day. Always. Yep. So we have a paranormal convention. We do, we help with a lot of other events that are happening in town. Local events. There's seven, Wilda and Ken, and they're doing a run through town. It's called Seven Bridges. And they crisscross over the seven bridges that bring you to downtown. Right Where you're sitting now is an island. You're on an island right now because the canal starts at the upper river and comes all the way down. And that's our hydro plant, historical hydro plant. that you saw there. So while you're here, uh, I did
Cliff Duvernois:know I was on an
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:You're on an island. Perfect. Yeah. And there's seven bridges that go across and they do a seven bridge run. So that's in July, I think. Okay. It is. I don't have my calendar right on me, but there's just so many things happening all the time, you can always find something to do. And even on the outskirts of towns, they give us their events and we put them onto because we want everybody to be successful.
Cliff Duvernois:I know that when it comes time for the winter, the I 500 yes. is like a tent pole. Yes.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Yes.
Cliff Duvernois:As far as event goes, talk to us about some of the other events that are going on as well.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Can we start with, New Year's Eve?
Cliff Duvernois:Let's do that.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:We We do an anchor drop.
Cliff Duvernois:I'm, I, okay. So I understand anchor drop, but share with us what it is.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:It's, it's a, it's like a ball drop, just like every day's at midnight. But it's an anchor. It's in the shape of an anchor and all that up. And we do an and, the downtown development does a great job. They do an early one for the kids. So they can be down here at eight o'clock in any evening, and then they do the midnight one. So it is just, and then there's different things going on, winter type things down there for people to just enjoy. They have bonfires going on around and doing that right downtown. Nice. So it's a great event. Okay. And then we're heading into january, which I love. January's a great month. we get sunshine in january, believe it or not. yeah. we have hockey tournaments galore. We have hockey teams here. We have four ice arenas. There's always something to do. You've got bird's eye. Who does the different, cross country skiing? Not, no, they don't do cross country. They just do the snow show with the candle, the lights and everything else in the evening. So they do a lot of things in the wintertime, hiking, and taking people around. Towa Falls does the same thing. You can go up there to the lantern. That's what the word is, lantern. There. you go to the lantern and go down there and do the different trails. I mean, so there's lots to do here in the winter and then and snowmobiling. Yeah. We have a tubing hill, huge tubing hill here. People come up and they go tubing, so it, and it's a part of the city's park. So it, it's just we have a lot to do. Then the first Saturday in February, we have the International 500 snowmobile race, 500 miles on a one mile ice oval. Can you imagine that? Daytona and they're in a cars and they're strapped in and they've got all the helmets and everything. They're on a snowmobile going 119 on the straightaways,
Cliff Duvernois:and it's freezing cold
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:and it's freezing cold outside. And they are doing 500 miles on one mile ice oval. And it is amazing to see this last year, the 54th, it's gonna be the 55 fifth coming up. 55 years it's been going on. You actually saw two snowmobiles coming down the straightaway towards the end going next to bumping each other. It was just so much fun to watch. it's just, it's like nASCAR on ice only as No, but no, they don't have no brackets to keep them safe.
Cliff Duvernois:How many people show up for the I 500?
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:It can be anywhere from six to 10,000. Yeah. It's a very busy time. And people don't just come up for that weekend. They come up for, snowmobiling. They got, we got great trails up here, great trails, or snowmobile trails. You can go here to munising and not run into a ton of people. Sure. It's wonderful. I grew up with four snowmobiles in my yard as a kid. Yeah. snowmobiling to me is great. And being a far of the I 500. And then we have hockey tournament, we have a girls hockey tournament in February, always. And this past year we had 14 teams here. We have Lake Superior State University hockey. We have the Eagles down here, their hockey. So we always have something going on. So year round you can do almost anything.
Cliff Duvernois:And what i, from what I've learned is the Red Wings actually used to come up here.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Yes. summertime. There's, we had, we have the, what we call the Polar Stadium that opened in 1939. It was one of the two refrigerated ice arenas. And the red Wings used to come up here for summer camp. They used to stay at the Ojibwe Hotel, which is just right down the street from them. And back then we didn't have a lot of hotels in town like we do today. So it was, they were a part, they were a part of this community. And back then when there was tournaments that go on at the Pooler, because we didn't have all the ice arenas we have today back then, but we would house people. So you just housing people we'd take the kids in for the tournaments and everybody did that throughout the community. And we still have the Eagles. There's families that take the Eagle players because they come from out of town to play here. And they take them in. So it's still happening this now. but now we have, LSS U we have the big Bear arena (Chi Mukwa) It is, it has two, two ice rinks in it and we have the Polar Stadium, so we have tournaments up here a lot. So it's a great time.
Cliff Duvernois:How big is the influence of hockey in the area?
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:It's in our blood. I can tell you as a kid, on Saturday night, it was hockey night in Canada back then. And you're watching, he's my dad, 92 still watches hockey. He watches everything. It's just, it's inbred in the community. It's a part of who you are. my brothers never played, but my grandson did, And, there was a, but everybody, all comes together. You have Sault High hockey team. They've done a great job. You just have all of that around you continuously. And then you have all these other teams. My grandson played right up until, he became a dad. So it is just, it's just wonderful to wa to watch, and it's part. And don't touch the polar stadium, 1939. Everybody. If anybody ever wanted to tear that down, I think you'd see the city just swarm themselves around it. Because it is who we are, right?
Cliff Duvernois:right.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:It is a part of our past. And our history.
Cliff Duvernois:If I was coming up here, never been to Sault Ste Marie before, had a, maybe got a family that I'm bringing up here on a vacation, cuz I've heard the show and I'm, Linda's convinced me this is where I need to go. What would be some of the things, let's break this into two questions. What would be some of the things that people need to think about when they're coming up here?
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Okay. You can see how beautiful it is today. Just know that when you come up, always bring a sweatshirt because the evenings get cooler. You can really enjoy the evenings around here when it's warm. when you're coming up here, you wanna go to the river's the reason we're all here, and then Sault Ste marie is about the people. So you're gonna wanna visit you. We've got attractions. You already know you've been to them. We have the boat tours. We have two, we have the, Famous and we have the, Original boat tours. You can do a two hour tour. That's great. You got the freighter, the Valley Camp. That's an awesome place to go. it's a museum and it has the life rafts off the edmund Fitzgerald in there. Yeah, but you have to go see it. You have to experience it. and, as I took you to the Tower of History. Yes. That's one of my favorite places. And people don't think of it as an attraction. It is an attraction. But you go up in the tower here, 210 feet up, you get to see the layout of the whole river, around Sault St. Marie and you get to see Sault Ontario. You get to see all the things that we have here. And then we also have a great museum, the river of history, and that's right on the main street. of Ashman. You get to see from where we started when, Father Marquette started with the Native Americans. The Native Americans were here first. And the gift that Native Americans have given us is such a, for me, it's a deep spiritual part of who I am. And then you get to see all of that. they welcomed us. the French here, they, the british, they welcomed them. They fed them. They made them a part of the, who they were here.
Cliff Duvernois:Sure.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:And they still do that.
Cliff Duvernois:And I wanna circle back to that. So when we're talking about like some of the local attractions in the area. So I'm gonna be so bold, put my ambassador head on. I would almost think the first place that some people would want to go and it's easily wheelchair accessible. I saw a young mother with her, with her baby cart manage it with no problem. And that would be the tower of history and going up to the top.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Yes. And
Cliff Duvernois:getting that overall view of all of sault Ste. Marie with the
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Yeah. and the boats.
Cliff Duvernois:And cuz I know for me personally, when I
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:saw that,
Cliff Duvernois:all of a sudden Sault Ste marie connected
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:And that's why the river connects us. and that's why it's so important to see who we are as a bigger picture, So yes, it's my first stop. If I have media here, it's my first stop, So that's why it was so important. I didn't get to get you there first, but that's why it's important to us. it just gives you that essence of who we are and the connectedness with Canada, there is no separation. so that's the greatest part is just, we're just the river. That's all it is. It's a river. We eat the same fish, we do the, some of the same things all the way through. So it's important. But yeah. And the big one is don't miss the Soo locks. Yes. That park there is just beautiful. The viewing platform is right there. you can just go and rest, and. There's great places to eat. Food is a great thing. And you might know for the last couple days that we've spent together that, I like my coffee too. Yeah. Yeah. And we have four coffee shops, so we just, we have it all. And if, then if you want nightlife, Kewadin Casino, it's great. Downtown Portage after eight or nine o'clock at night, there is, there is places to go and listen to things, but Kewadin has big events. they have, a theater where they do concerts in and stuff. So you can do that, and you can game, they also have food, So it's all we're, we have it all up here. you, we don't have to leave here to go find out what we want.
Cliff Duvernois:Let's talk about, cuz this was something very interesting that you shared with me yesterday in that, and circling back to our conversation about the Native Americans, that the kewadin casino actually works with you. They're a much a part of the cVB as anybody else, even though they're, they've got their own little sovereign nation. Talk to us about that relationship.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Oh, it's an amazing relationship that we have and that we've always had. the minute they opened up their hotel, they, they've been a part of the convention and visitors bureau, it, the connected us and I can say right down to the CEO of the five Kewadin Casinos is on my board of directors.
Cliff Duvernois:Everybody's on everybody's board.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:And that's how you stay connected. Yes. That's how you bring people together. Is keeping those people together. I can. Let me give you an example of how bigger this is. How big are our ccb B is as a small Ccb B one of my board members lives in Traverse City. He's from the sault. I have another board member that lives in detroit and he's up here all the time and he has hotels all the way up and he's a part of our board. And then I have mom and pops on my board. I have the, mayor of Sault Ste Marie on my board. My board is the greatest board you could ever have. Cuz they're visionaries. They're looking down the road. They're not looking at what's in it for me today. They're looking 10 years down the road, 20 years down the road. cuz then they'll know what's in it for them.
Cliff Duvernois:When you're looking 10 years down the road, you're thinking strategically. Yes,
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Yes, and we do all the time. Just getting that two and a half million dollar grant for the I 500 track to make it available to use year round. They thought outside the box, surely no,
Cliff Duvernois:let's
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:do that. And, we did, we received two and a half million dollars and we have to raise 20% of that, Which we've already done 150,000 from the Great Lakes Sports Commission. So yeah. So we still have more to raise and we will, and we're just getting started. That's why I say we're a destination builder. We're just, we're. Cuz when you have a destination that is built, the people will come.
Cliff Duvernois:I couldn't think of a better way to end this than, on that note. Linda, if somebody's listening to this interview and they're saying to themselves, I'd like to check out Sault Ste Marie, think about bringing my family up there, wherever. What is the best way for them to, connect?
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:saultstemarie.com. Go. And it's s a u l t s t e m a r i e.com Cuz Sault is spelled, not s o, it's s a u l t. So that's a good one. And you can find all our social media on there too.
Cliff Duvernois:Linda, thank you so much for taking time to chat with us today. It was, it's been great.
LInda Hoath, Sault Ste Marie CVB:Oh, Cliff, it's been wonderful. And I want you to say your last name one more time. I love it. I love it. It's so exciting. and thank you for being here.
Cliff Duvernois:You're welcome, and for our audience, you can always roll on over to total michigan.com. Click on linda's interview and get the links that she mentioned above. We will see you next week with another great story of an ordinary michigan or doing extraordinary things. We'll see you then.
