Idea Would Promote All of County's Ports
Group Requests $10,000 From County Commission
By Karen Gould

Promoting Mackinac County as a cohesive community of port cities by developing a new Web site for travelers is an idea brought to county commissioners January 24 by Cheryl Schlehuber, Janet Peterson, and Mark Sposito of St. Ignace, who are seeking $10,000 in financial support from the county for start-up costs. The county's contribution could boost economic development, they say, and if the group puts its proposal in writing, commissioners say they could fund it when they meet in February. The Web site could be launched in April.

Mrs. Peterson is director of the St. Ignace Chamber of Commerce, Mrs. Schlehuber is the chamber president, and Mr. Sposito is a member of the St. Ignace Visitors Bureau.

Tourists are not aware of Mackinac County's resources, the group told commissioners. A Web site could include an interactive map and videos and would link history, features, and events around the county.

"There's little bits and pieces all over and we are not connected," said Mrs. Peterson, "and we really need to be able to do that."

Harbors are a common element of many lake-side communities, and tying them together as port cities would be a unique way to promote the county, the group believes. The St. Ignace group even envisions a regional port authority in the future, which could promote economic development along the waterfronts.

The group would like to hire a marketing liaison to promote the county as a tourist destination, coordinate community events, and be a resource to local municipalities.

"These are tough times," said Mrs. Schlehuber. "We have to do something and I think the tourism industry is what we have to key in on. All things will fall into place if that is good. In the big picture, industry will come by being a great tourism town."

People seek information and book vacations through the Internet, she told commissioners.

Local communities have small budgets, and pooling resources and promoting the entire county could increase tourism, the group reasons.

There was a time when the Mackinac area was one of the few vacation spots in the state, said Mrs. Schlehuber.

"Those days are long gone," she said.

The group has met with representatives from local chambers of commerce, tourism bureaus, city leaders, Mackinac State Historic Parks, and the Mackinac Bridge Authority. The group also would like to work with Mackinaw City.

"I feel we really need to support this," said Mackinac County Commission Chairman Dawn Nelson.

The board agreed.

Tourism is the industry of Mackinac County, Mrs. Schlehuber said, and promoting and increasing tourism in the region results in economic development as businesses grow and jobs are created.

The plan was hatched by the St. Ignace Chamber of Commerce. Inclusion on the Web site would be free to all municipalities in the county, while a fee would be charged to area businesses that advertise on the sites.

The chamber already has secured three site names it may want to use: portsofmichigan.org, portsofmackinaw. com, and portsofmackinac.com, which would be the first site to be developed.

"We own all these sites," said Mrs. Schlehuber. "It's unlimited what we can do."

The money the county plans to contribute to the project would pay for development of the Web sites and help cover start-up costs, the group said.

Greg Troin, president of eChamber Connect, an Ann Arbor company that has developed the chamber's Web site and currently is working on the county's new site, also attended the meeting.

The group will hire the firm to develop the port sites.