Local News

Friends of the St. Clair River is hosting the 6th annual Blue Water Sturgeon Festival on Saturday, June 1st from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. at the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse Station Park, 2800 Omar Street, Port Huron. This one-day event is centered on providing close encounters with Lake Sturgeon, Michigan’s Gentle Giant of the Great Lakes. Parking and admission are free.
The festival provides a live sturgeon touch tank, hands-on activities, workshops, adopt a sturgeon program and exclusive Huron Lady Sturgeon Cruises. Lake Sturgeon can grow to more than 6 feet long and weigh more than 100 pounds. St. Clair County has the largest Lake Sturgeon population in the Great Lakes, an estimated 30,000 adults in southern Lake Huron, the St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair. Biologists are recording the abundance, distribution, and growth of Lake Sturgeon to better understand their life cycle and movements. The festival draws thousands to get up close and personal with these giants, ask questions to those who study them, and learn about stewardship of the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem.  Huron Lady Sturgeon Cruise tickets are available at www.huronlady.com for cruises at 10:00a.m, 11:30
a.m., and 1:00 p.m. Tickets are $25/ person. During the 1-hour guests watch Lake Sturgeon swimming in the St. Clair River via live video by Gregory A.D. scuba divers.  Fifth-grade students in St. Clair County – 600 of them – will get a free Sturgeon Science Cruise May 30- 31 as part of the Sturgeon Festival. Students embark on the Huron Lady II where they interact with
biologists catching, tagging and releasing Lake Sturgeon and scientists studying invasive species, like sea lamprey. Friends of the St. Clair River hatched the Blue Water Sturgeon Festival in 2014 after a group of divers,  environmentalists and scientists wanted to highlight the fascinating story of this ancient fish – a mascot for the Great Lakes and their recovery. Lake Sturgeon are threatened in 7 of the 8 Great Lakes states.  Once on the brink of extinction, their populations are making a comeback and have become a spotlight species for the habitat restoration work completed in the St. Clair River. Funds raised from the Sturgeon Cruise support Friends of the St. Clair River’s conservation and stewardship programs. For more information, visit www.SturgeonFestival.com or contact Sheri Faust, President, Friends of the St. Clair River at (810) 730-5998 or info@scriver.org.

DATES TO REMEMBER:
Sturgeon Brew Benefit Party, May 30, 5 pm – 9 pm, War Water Brewery, St. Clair
Blue Water Sturgeon Festival, June 1, 10 am – 3 pm, Fort Gratiot Light Station Park, Pt Huron
Huron Lady Sturgeon Cruises, June 1, 10 am, 11:30 am, 1:00 pm, Huron Lady Dock, Port Huron

A 48-year-old Sandusky man was pronounced dead at the scene of a traffic crash in Imlay Township early Saturday, Lapeer County Sheriff Department reports.  They say deputies were called to the scene on VanDyke south of Bowers Road just after 5 a.m. Saturday.  According to the Sheriff Department release, a 2005 Toyota Sienna minivan driven by a 41-year-old Hamtramck man was northbound on Van Dyke when he failed to navigate a curve and hit the gravel shoulder.  It appears the driver over-corrected while attempting to reenter the roadway, traveling across the northbound lane, entering the southbound lane in front of two other motorist.  A 2005 Toyota side-swiped a southbound 2018 Chevy Cruz driven by a 24-year-old Imlay City man…the driver was uninjured.  The driver of the 2008 Saturn, Gary Franzel was hit head on by the minvan, whose driver was taken to McLaren in Lapeer with life threatening injuries, then later transported to Hurley Medical Center in Flint.  Preliminary investigation suggest that neither alcohol nor excessive speed are factors, with toxicology pending.

 

Carol Hall is the owner of the Hallway Escape which is a place in which adults get to go and have a unique entertainment experience.  They have three different rooms in which each has a story line and attendees are charged with finding clues to either solve a mystery or escape the room.   The most recent room to open is the Sunken Freighter playing on local history of the Storm of 1913.  Hall says while the escape rooms are primarily geared toward adults, there is a children’s room for 5 to 7 or 8 year olds in which it is like an eye spy game, and a puzzle treasure hunt for older kids.  About one year ago the Hallway Escape moved to a larger location at  the corner of 6^th and Union in Port Huron.   And now, along with the escape rooms, since January, they offer a game show night which is similar to Hollywood Game Night, as well as Silent Moving Disco which can be rented out for private parties.  Hall says as far as she knows the Hallway Escape is the only company in Michigan that offers the kids escape room.  You can reserve your game at  www.thehallwayescape.com –

On Tuesday of last week St. Clair County Community Mental Health had their annual awards banquet, and according to St. Clair County Administrator Controller Karry Hepting, the St. Clair County Sheriff Department was honored with the art of caring award.  This award is given to different organizations or businesses that make a significant impact on the programs and individuals supported by CMH.  The Sheriff Department had been working with CMH to have a more collaborative relationship to provide training for officers when they are responding to calls where individuals might be exhibiting symptoms of mental illness.  Hepting says that it involved Sheriff Department Staff and CMH Staff, working together, job shadowing to understand each other’s roles and how to better help those individuals.

Monday, May 27th, Memorial Day, the public is invited to the annual Port Huron Memorial Day Parade. Line up for the parade will be held on the west side of Military Street near Zebra Lounge at 10:00am. Parade starts at 11:00am heading north on Huron to Pine Grove Park for a short Memorial Day program.  This year’s Memorial Day program will recognize 21-local fallen heroes from World War I and II, Korean and Vietnam Wars who were forgotten but now will be forever remembered by our community for their actions and devotions from this day forward. The St. Clair County Allied Veteran Council and Memorial Tablet Committee determined these local military service members who died in service have met the criteria to be added to the monument in Pine Grove Park. This is the largest number of names to be added to the monument since the Vietnam War. “This is historical moment for our community. We will collectively remember all 21-fallen heroes who have been forgotten for over 100 years,” said Daniel J. Crocker, retired State Director of Veterans Services, Department of Michigan of Veterans of Foreign Wars. Crocker’s involvement with the Memorial Tablet Committee dates back to the early 1980’s. Since his retirement as Director, he has been actively involved in researching and identifying war dead from St. Clair County, Michigan and documenting those findings.  The following service members will be remembered and honored:

World War I

John W. Ashford, Port Huron

Harris Christenson, Port Huron

Don M. Dickinson, Marine City

Floyd Pemberton, Algonac

William E. Regan, Marine City

Grover G. Wegg, Port Huron

World War II

Fred Jones, Burton

William W.L. Mitchell, Port Huron

Oswald A. Powers, Marine City

Richard Regan, Yale

Clarence Sanders, Port Huron

Benjamin Scoggan, Port Huron

William J. Woolley, Goodells

Korean

Howard J. Ahles, St. Clair

Frederick D. Ballantine, Port Huron

Bill E. Buck, Yale and St. Clair

Oliver B. Crain, Jr, Goodells

William A. MacKean, Avoca

William Poole, Emmett

Willie L. Thomas, Port Huron

Vietnam

Clarence W. Howard, Port Huron

In addition to being on the Pine Grove Tablet, these fallen heroes will be included in the Blue Water Fallen Heroes Community Banner Program. These beautiful, patriotic banners honoring those who died while serving their country, will be displayed yearly for one week prior to and one week after Memorial Day across St. Clair County starting in 2021.  The community’s help is needed to obtain photographs for over 560 service members who died while serving their country.   Service members from World War I to the current Gulf War who resided in cities/townships across St. Clair County will be included. If you are a family member or know of a friend or a neighbor who died while serving their country, call the banner message line at (810) 985-2007 to schedule an appointment to have a photograph scanned.  Everyone is invited to be a part of this historical Memorial Day Parade and Program on May 27th. For more information, contact Nancy Deising, BS, CHES®, Outreach Coordinator, at (810) 989-6945 or by e-mail at ndeising@stclaircounty.org .