(Photo Credit: St. Clair County Parks, Dennis Delor)
Port Huron has a long history as a low-key town in the Thumb, with a peaceful waterfront and an inward focus.
Today, though, the city is aiming to lure a larger market. Port Huron has a new hotel/convention center complex and a beautiful mile-long river walk in the works, and is sprucing up existing attractions for visitors.
“We’re a small town but with big-city amenities,” says Marci Fogal, president of the Blue Water Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It’s a very comfortable, very safe atmosphere, and it’s just such a charming community- that, I can’t stress enough.”
A New Destination for Meetings
Port Huron is one of nine communities along a 140-mile shoreline that boasts six lighthouses (including the state’s oldest working lighthouse); and the quaint town of Lexington.
The city’s yearly boat race to Mackinac draws more than 300 vessels. Its Thomas Edison Depot Museum and Great Lakes Maritime Center tell the area’s story as the region’s maritime capital. The Black River and Fore Lakes golf courses offer high-quality greens, while the Huron Lady cruise boat provides pleasure outings along the water.
Historically, though, the city hasn’t been a meetings destination. Now thanks to major new developments, planners can capitalize on the city’s many offerings.
Since its construction in the 1990s, the Thomas Edison Inn has been Port Huron’s crown jewel venue. The spacious, upscale hotel overlooking the water was the city’s finest, and boasted its best restaurant.
Today, the inn is in the final stages of transitioning to a DoubleTree by Hilton. The 149-room hotel will offer two ballrooms, with the completely renovated restaurant now the maritime-themed Freighters, owned and operated by Grand Rapids-based Meritage Hospitality Group.
Adjacent to the hotel will be the new Blue Water Arena Convention Center. The 35,000-square-foot facility, expected to open in the summer of 2014, will offer a 25,000-square-foot exhibit hall, five breakout rooms and pre-function space. A dedicated exit ramp off Interstate 94 will provide direct access to the property.
The new center “will be every meeting planner’s dream come true,” Fogal says. “It will be a state-of-the-art facility along with the resort atmosphere the community offers. You can walk out of your meeting, out of your hotel room, and you’re on a boardwalk. The bridge is lit up blue at night, and you can watch the freighters go through.”
The convention center “will be the premier mid-market-size facility on the eastern shore of Michigan,” says Bill Kauffman, the St. Clair County administrator.
“There really is nothing, other than Cobo, of this size available” in southeast Michigan, he adds, making it ideal for planners who want a more intimate destination, especially one with seasonal amenities like golfing, swimming and boating.
“I just think the site is unparalleled,” Kauffman says. “We get people who ask us where we put the dye into the water to make it so blue.”
According to Fogal, an hourly bus route is being developed between the convention center and downtown, which offers several restaurants and bars overlooking the St. Clair River.
Downtown is also the site of McMorran Place, a venue that offers a 1,157-seat theater and other rentable space. According to Kauffman, the management company for the new convention center is expected to also manage McMorran, increasing opportunities for ancillary programs, such as award ceremonies or concerts, at the site.
(Photo Credit: Dale of the Blue Water Area Convention & Visitors Bureau)
The Fort Gratiot Lighthouse
Convention attendees looking to unwind after a morning of seminars will be just a short stroll from the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse. The working lighthouse- the state’s oldest operating lighthouse- was built in 1829 and is operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. The lighthouse is available for tours, and its grounds can be rented for outdoor events. (The Port Huron Museum manages tours and rentals.) Event attendees can expect “a spectacular view,” says Mark Brochu, director of the St. Clair County Parks and Recreation Department. “With one photograph, you can get a historic lighthouse with a modern freighter behind it.”
In 2012, the lighthouse received interpretive panels, along with a walkway for visitors with disabilities. Tours may explore everything but the top lantern room. Brochu says the property has hosted ghost hunters and that he knows of at least one marriage proposal at the top of the lighthouse.
“For a lot of people, just to look across the water and say, ‘What’s that?’ And to hear, ‘Oh, that’s Canada,’ especially for people from out of state, that kind of blows their minds,” Brochu adds.
Also on the property is a duplex building available for overnight rental for groups of 20 or more. Overnight at the Light includes a lighthouse tour, planned programming and a snack.
The property is just a stone’s throw from the CVB, and the hotel, restaurant, convention center and lighthouse are working together to create a total experience for visitors.
“We’ve all been to conventions where we need to get outdoors and clear our mind,” Brochu says. “For those that haven’t had exposure to all things nautical, the nexus between the Blue Water Bridges, expanses of Lake Huron and the oldest lighthouse in Michigan all come together to give folks a unique experience.”
(Photo Credit: Great Lakes Maritime Center, Ralph W. Polovich, Acheson Ventures)
Blue Water River Walk
Perhaps the icing on the cake of Port Huron’s burst of development is the creation of the Blue Water River Walk. James Acheson, who owns 70 acres of lakefront land, donated the shoreline to the Community Foundation of St. Clair County to ensure its protection and public use.
“The goal is to develop it as a key and vital link to revitalizing downtown,” says Randy Maiers, the foundation’s president. “We want to attract individuals and families on evenings and weekends to experience downtown and linger there.”
The $5 million project, slated for completion by the end of 2014, will offer outdoor fireplaces, announcements of passing freighters and extensive interpretations for visitors of the river’s history and the area’s settlers and native peoples. It also will encourage hands-on engagement, Maiers says.
“You can walk right down to the water’s edge, which is what will really distinguish us,” he says. “The whole premise will be to encourage interaction between visitors and nature. We want people to have a picnic, for kids to skip stones in the water.”
The Great Lakes Maritime Center, the city’s largest tourist attraction, sits at the river walk’s north end. Just south of the center, the river walk project will include a 2,500-square-foot patio jutting out into the St. Clair River. The patio, at the site of an old railroad ferry dock, will maintain a railroad aesthetic, Maiers says, and will be available for event rentals.
From the Maritime Center, a pedestrian trail will connect with the Bridge to Bay trail, a 50-mile network of hike and bike paths.
The foundation is partnering with the county to create wetlands at the river walk’s south end, to be completed in 2015.
The nearest place you can find these kinds of outdoor opportunities is Up North, Kauffman says. “There just seems to be so much coming together right now the visitor can benefit from.”
