Lake Huron Lore Marine Mart

[Guest]

the port huron marine mart had its hey day when it was held at "bean dock" located right on the st clair river there were large crowds in attendance as it was also held the same day as be a tourist in your own town. when the moved to st clair it was the beginning of the end, sad to say

[BigRiver]

I enjoy the marine marts but it is often the same people selling the same stuff as the previous shows. Many of the older participants, such as Al Hart and Jim Hoffman, have passed on. Also, it is a lot of work to pack items up to take them to the marts, price them, and then bring them back home if no one buys them. If I have an item to sell I can get a much bigger audience, and hence more money, by listing it on eBay. But if an item is too big, heavy or too awkward to ship (I am thinking of a lifeboat oar), that's where the marts come in handy. Often a good chunk of my marine mart sales come from other vendors. All that said, I will still continue to do the marts when I can because I enjoy reconnecting with my friends, both sellers and buyers. I also go because I want to support the organizations sponsoring the marts, such as GLMI.

[Guest]

Over the years the number of vendors at Marine Marts has also been in decline with several having passed away over the past 10 years or so. How much of a vendor participation does the GLMI event in St. Clair Shores currently have? I know the Lake Huron Lore level of vendor participation at St. Clair had been in decline for quite some time.

[Denny]

From years past if I recall correctly, I think it is usually held later in the year about November or December? Hope that this information helps.

[Guest]

the only marine mart im aware of is the g.l.m.i. one in st. clair, shores in the fall of 2022.

Has a date been announced for this marine mart?

[guest]

the only marine mart im aware of is the g.l.m.i. one in st. clair, shores in the fall of 2022.

[guest]

good point from guest who was a board member of lake huron lore. the boatnerd picnic at the soo is a free event, but the freighter chasing dinner cruise is not well attended because it costs. do they even still have the cruise at night? boatnerd use to have a cruise in detroit but attendance got so low it never happened again

[guest]

in todays society it is the same for all organizations whither it be the lions club, k of c, legion etc. if its free they are 1st in line, seems no one wants to put their money where their mouth is

[Guest]

I once served as a board member for Lake Huron Lore and I can tell you that there was a lot of hard work that went on behind the scenes to organize events, create newsletters, etc. That being said, the membership was in general decline at the time and this was being caused by a variety of factors in addition to the society being regional in nature. The foremost of these was the general decline of public interest in Great Lakes shipping. I know some will disagree with this and point out the number of followers some Facebook groups boast and the number of hits enthusiast websites like this one garner on an annual basis as to how strong of interest there is in Great Lakes shipping. However, a major factor between a casual observer and a dedicated enthusiast is the cost associated with belonging to organizations such as Lake Huron Lore in comparison to the free nature of virtually all of the online content associated with Great Lakes shipping. If websites like this one suddenly became subscription based there almost assuredly be a dramatic drop in traffic to the site as it's likely that only a small percentage of current users would be willing to pay a subscription fee. During my time with Lake Huron Lore, the elderly represented a large percentage of the overall membership and without the recruitment of younger members, this would inevitably lead to a point that the annual dues would not be sufficient to cover the operating costs. In such a circumstance, the group would be unable to continue operating and dissolve. I'm assuming that the Lake Huron Lore Society no longer exists as all of the evidence points in that direction. If that is true, it quietly faded away without much notice.

[guest]

the same thiing happened to the welland canal ship society,the ones in charge were spending funds inapproiately, and the memership dwindled, or left, as i did.

[guest]

to my knowledge they dissolved, it started going down hill when they moved from the museum in port huron

[Guest]

Has anyone heard if there will be a Lake Huron Lore Marine Mart this June (2022)? Is this group still in existence? Their website is gone and their Facebook page hasn't been updated in quite some time.