Kids in the Port Huron Parks and Recreation Department’s Theater Bootcamp have had a crash course in putting on a show. They were given their parts on Monday and their performance is on Friday. Over 70 kids, ages six to fifteen, have learned from a pro, Port Huron native McKale Bingham, over the two sessions of the program.

Bingham, a 2013 Port Huron Northern High School graduate, is a working actor living in Los Angeles. She has appeared in several TV shows, most recently in an episode of the CBS sitcom “How We Roll”.

McKale has been coming back to Port Huron to direct the theater camp since 2019 and said that she really tries to make it a valuable experience for the participants.

This year’s show is called “The Claw” and is a story of toys that have been stuck in an arcade claw machine since the ‘90s. The show is sponsored by Sperry’s which just opened their own Arcadehouse.

The 35-minute show is Friday, July 29th at 6:00 p.m. in the McMorran Theatre. It is free and open to the public.

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland

Main Street Memories Wheels on the Waterfront car show is coming to the Acheson property Saturday, July 30th from 10 AM – 4 PM.

The show happens annually on the last Saturday in July, and last year was the first year it moved from the Main Street area of downtown Port Huron to the waterfront near Vantage Point.

The car show donates all funds raised to the Council on Aging (CoA) serving St. Clair County, and the CoA will be running a shuttle service Saturday to help people get to the show and around the downtown area to visit local businesses.

CoA’s Starpath Adult Day Services bus will be used as the shuttle, and car show visitors can pick it up at various parking lots in the city and get dropped off at the show.

The shuttle will pick up and drop off at:

• East Quay Street Lot
• North Fogcutter Lot
• North McMorran Lot
• Blue Water Bus Transit Parking lot along Superior Avenue
• Military Street Parking Lot (Military & Wall Street

Here is a map of the parking lots where the shuttle will stop:

Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand

While no one has enjoyed the delays and traffic congestion caused by the months-long rebuilding of Pine Grove Avenue, also known as M-25, through the north end of Port Huron and into Fort Gratiot, the finished product from the extensive repairs looks to be worth the wait. And the wait is almost over.

Jocelyn Garza, Communications Representative from the Michigan Department of Transportation, said that the work is wrapping up and that traffic is expected to be placed in its normal configuration on August 1st.

Garza said that there will be some occasional lane closures after August 1st to finish up the remaining work. Garza said that the $5.8 million project is on schedule and on budget and moved smoothly.

Hopefully, vehicles will also be moving smoothly when the project is complete. The final touches include painting the bridge railing, completing an epoxy overlay on the bridge deck, replacing some remaining sections of curb, and repairing drainage structures. Pavement markings and adjusting traffic signals are the last things to be done.

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland

For those who use a Bridge Card to supplement their food budget, additional funds will be added to the cards to help pay for the rising cost of food.

Beneficiaries will receive at least an additional $95 this month. Nearly 1.4 million Michigan residents in over 700,000 households use the Supplemental Nutrition Program, which is delivered through Bridge Cards.

Additional food assistance has been added to regular monthly Bridge Card payments. No action is needed to get the benefits, and the additional payment should have been added to the Bridge Card balance by July 25th.

Federal approval is needed every month for Michigan to access the Families First Coronavirus Response Act funds, and it was granted again for July.

According to the consumer price index, grocery costs have risen about 12% over the last year. This is the largest jump in grocery costs in 43 years.

Some products have jumped up in price beyond the 12% average. For example, eggs have jumped in price by around 32%. Non-food items like laundry detergent and paper products, which are not eligible for Bridge Card purchase, have also increased in price recently.

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland

The St. Clair County Parks and Recreation Millage will be on the ballot on August 2nd. Voters will be asked to renew the millage at .4944 mills, which will be down slightly from the previous millage rate of .5 mills. The millage will be in place for six years.

If passed, the renewal will generate around $3 million per year for county parks and recreation programs, with 25% of the money returned to local units of government for their own parks and recreation projects.

St. Clair County is unique in its approach to distributing funding to local municipalities. From 2016 to 2021, over $4 million has been distributed among 33 units of government.

Besides the local projects, many county projects are funded with millage money. County projects include the Blue Water River Walk, Goodells County Park, the Fort Gratiot Light Station, and the Wadhams to Avoca Trail, among others.

With the millage renewal, a property owner with a property value of $200,000 could expect to pay about $50 for the Parks and Recreation millage.

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland