CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH CARRIE FOX, ARMY CORPS SAULT
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closes the Soo Locks Visitor Center in Sault Ste. Marie’s Canal Park at 7 p.m. on Tuesday for the season.
Carrie Fox with Army Corps says it’s one last chance to enjoy the Center before it closes for the winter.
“The park is still beautiful this time of year,” Fox told RRN News. “There’s still some really nice colors on the trees, and we’re actually planting some new trees. So, it’s still a great time to come down, check out the park, and come to the visitors center.”
The Visitor Center is open from 10:00 until 7:00 through the final day of Tuesday, while the park there is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. until that changes on Wednesday, when winter hours (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) kick in.
“The Visitor Center offered several new exhibits this summer to include a new interactive photo table, panels highlighting careers and workers at the Soo Locks and new rugs that show the existing and future Soo Locks facility,” Chief Park Ranger Michelle Briggs added. “We listen to our visitors and create exhibits that reflect their interests.”
Briggs said that the Canal Park at the Soo Locks Park welcomed over 280,000 visitors from May 1 to Oct. 1, with over 220,000 stopping in the Visitor Center to get boat schedules, ask questions and check out the exhibits inside.
“Throughout the season, over 1,600 kids and 700 adults received water safety goody bags after taking the Water Safety Pledge,” she added.
Fox says the Soo Locks themselves, however, will not be closing when the Visitor Center does.
“We do see ships coming through the facility (Soo Locks) 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until the 16th of January, when we shut down for the ten-week (maintenance) closure period,” Fox said. “We will re-open on the 25th of March.”
As for the Visitor Center, it will re-open on May 1st for the 2024 season.
Fox says that even after the Visitor Center closes, you can still take part in “Virtual Visitor Center” programs held the first Thursday of each month, through next April. The next presentation on Thursday, Nov. 2, about the Edmund Fitzgerald, and the investigations into her tragic loss.
“During COVID, the park rangers had a great idea, to come up with the virtual visitor’s center program,” she said. “The public really liked it, so they continued it, even though COVID is pretty much over.”
Other planned topics include Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior, a history of the Duluth-Superior Harbor and several other navigation related programs.
For up to date Virtual Visitor Center programs, visit: https://www.facebook.com/USACEDetroitDistrict.
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