(funky guitar music) - [Narrator] On this awesome episode of "UTR", we're back in Port Huron with more reasons for you to dock what you're doing right here.

We'll tell tales of amazing trails, have some Blue Water Festival fun, and tip a few with some Renaissance Man.

Then it's a famous boat race that's known all over the place.

Get ready to explore the cool people, places, and things that make Port Huron so popular.

(funky guitar music) - [Narrator] Pure is what you make of it.

It's taken it all in and never taken anything for granted.

(inspirational music) The sun sets, the moon rises, and you realize the end of one perfect summer day is the beginning of another.

Pursue your pure in Pure Michigan.

- [Narrator] A visit to the Stahls auto collection will take you back to a time when cars were more than just a way to get around, a fantastic assortment of gas pumps, neon signs, and automated music machines dating back 150 years that must be seen and heard.

Info at stahlsauto.com.

- [Narrator] Brought to you by Frankenmuth, A Great Lakes Bay region community.

Visit GoGreat.com for more info.

(upbeat music) - I've been around the world, but there's one place I keep coming back to, and the more I explore, the more I realize it's the place to be.

I'm Tom Daldin and this is "Under the Radar in Michigan".

(playful upbeat music) Now, what can I say about Port Huron that hasn't already been said?

Well, actually, that's a dangerous question 'cause you know me.

I can say a lot.

Yup.

If you've watched our other exciting shows on Port Huron, you know that it's a cool cosmopolitan city that sits right where mighty Lake Huron meets the St. Clair River.

It's a boulder and water lover's paradise.

It's hugged by seven miles of wonderful waterfront, has a relaxing river walk where you can eye countless mighty ships.

And the beautiful Blue Water Bridge makes it a gorgeous gateway to our friends in Canada.

Hello over there, Canada-nadians.

The downtown has also exploded with incredible new breweries and restaurants, great shops and very cool places to stay and play.

Port Huron really does have its own lifestyle and mindset that says, feel the water, enjoy the city and love your life.

The downtown really is a great combination of both old and new with tons of fun stuff to see and do.

And it's just waiting for you to come and explore it.

Well, now, with all that being said, it's time for me to say a bunch of stuff I have yet to say about Port Huron.

But first, a reminder of where we are.

Again, Port Huron is located on Michigan's thumb coast at the base of the third largest of the Great Lakes, Lake Huron.

(logo swooshing) We were lucky enough to be in Port Huron during their huge and exciting Blue Water Festival that happens every July.

The festivities kick off with a rousing rotary parade that propels civic pride right through the heart of the city with the grand festival finale being one of the most famous boat races on the face of the earth.

So let's get on the good foot and find out more about this amazing city.

But before we partake in any port side parties or parades, why don't we take a few minutes to discuss how Port Huron is one of the greatest places in the world to walk or wield your two wheeler?

That's right.

If you like to hike, bike, or walk in wondrous surroundings, Port Huron has a sensational trail system that can take you all around this awesome area or even as far as South Haven on Lake Michigan.

Yup.

If you're looking to reduce your caloric all while enjoying nature and the historic, Port Huron has some pleasant pathways to participate in.

Now, to help me wrap my head around these awesome trails, oh, yeah, and to help me get my bike out of the car, I met up with Sheri Faust from Friends of the St. Clair River.

So Sheri, if that really is your name, we're standing next to a buoy and we're on dry land.

Is there a good reason for that?

- We are at the intersection of the Great Lake-to-Lake Trail Route 1, and our Bridge to Bay Trail, which is our region's longest pedestrian and cycling trail.

It just happens to be on the shore of Lake Huron too.

- Well, good, because biking in the water does not work.

- [Sheri] No.

- But before we get to the the trails, because I'm a huge, well, I'm a regular size, but I'm a huge trail rider.

I bike constantly.

You're with the Friends of the St. Clair River, correct?

- Mm-mm, and we're more than just the river.

We care for our region's parks, trails, and rivers through stewardship, education, and conservation and recreation and trails are a great way to get people out appreciating and using nature as well as our beaches and parks.

And that's the great thing about the Bridge Bay trails.

It takes people through all that and we can build stewards of our natural resources.

- The lighthouse here, the Fort Gratiot at lighthouse, that is such an iconic place.

I've actually been here before.

And tell me just a little bit about that lighthouse because it's iconic.

- Yeah, and you probably climbed it about 94 stairs.

It's Michigan's oldest working lighthouse, sits on the shore of Lake Huron, just one of the 11 Great Lakes beaches here on Michigan's thumb coast.

And it is iconic site.

It's open for families to climb.

And you can take advantage of the park that's here behind us and go swimming in the beach.

- I was just gonna say the beach here alone, even without the lighthouse, it's just a beautiful place to bring the family.

It's a beautiful beach.

It's history, it's part of the community.

It's just nice to bring your family someplace where you can swim, get sand in their shoe, and learn something all at the same time.

- Right.

- But getting back to the trails.

Now, this is like the intersection for, what did you call it?

The lake to lake or the lake to?

- Great Lake-to-Lake Trail Route 1.

So that takes you from South Haven to Port Huron.

It's 275 miles.

And probably one of the most ambitious and challenging of the five lake-to-lake trail routes.

And we're here right at the home base.

- Yeah.

Now, that's the trail that I do wanna try, because like I said, I've had this fantasy for a long time doing one of these long, super long trails in Michigan where you can stop and bed and breakfast on the way and stop in little towns.

So how long does it take to ride the lake-to-lake trail?

- Let me know when you do it.

That's a great question.

I don't know.

It's 275 miles.

Probably one of the most ambitious and challenging lake-to-lake routes in the state.

But we're really proud of our regional trail, the Bridge to Bay Trail, which is 50 miles and kinda bookends you from two state parks that we have here, Lakeport State Park to Algonac State Park.

And you can easily do that in a day.

- You wouldn't happen to have a map of the Bridge to Bay Trail, would you?

- I do, just a small pocket one.

You wanna see it?

- Yeah.

Whoa.

Well, my wife and I come up to Port Huron all the time and do the river walk and watch the freighters come in off the lake, you know, into the river, but I had no idea.

Look at the length of this.

- We have these two bookends.

The state park to state park is kind of unique.

And it's an urban trail.

So this isn't like a rural rail to trail.

It's very urban.

You hit these scenic shoreline communities.

You know, it's 50 miles here.

You're never more than five miles between each community.

Every community has a beach, great ice cream and great freighter viewing.

That's what we really like to promote is the freighter viewing.

Like you can even put your bike on a ferry for free, take a link to the island.

- So you come up here and start up here, let's say, and you can do the trail, stop, picnic, or have dinner, go shopping.

This is extraordinary.

Extraordinary.

And so today, we're going to actually spend some time on this trail.

Okay, where we're gonna start in Port Huron because that's, well, that's where we are.

- Yeah, yeah, we're here at the Green Diamond.

- Oh, gotcha.

Which you wanna go north or south?

- We'll go south, I was thinking, towards the bridge.

- Yes, I wanna go under the bridge.

- Oh, okay.

- Awesome.

Deal.

Well, enough talking about these tremendous trails.

It was time to test them out.

So we hopped on our trusty, and in my case, rusty, bikes and headed out to enjoy the wonderful waterfront that they have here in Port Huron.

It's absolutely amazing how much history, natural beauty and nautical niceties you pass along the way.

Oh, look, a boat.

And the occasional friendly wave doesn't hurt either.

To be honest, this is one of my wife's and my favorite places to come and spend a day away.

If your local trail is getting a bit stale, come walk, hike, or bike around Port Huron.

You'll be surprised what you uncover and discover.

And as for me, I had a blast.

And as soon as I can get my bike back in the car, we can move on to our next segment.

Gee, I wonder where Sheri went.

Could sure use her help right about now.

Is this even the right car?

No.

(logo whooshing) (logo swooshing) (bright music) Well, if you remember my clever tease from earlier in the script, there's some big stuff happening right now in Port Huron, and it's called the Blue Water Festival.

It's a giant citywide happening in hullabaloo that brings the entire town together to celebrate this tremendous community, and, of course, the historic Port Huron to Mackinac Island sailboat race.

Now, to make sure I don't even miss a thimble full of fun, I headed over to the McMorran Center Plaza Park to check in with Blue Water organizer extraordinaire, Natacha Hayden.

First, Natasha, let me say that the McMorran Center and this Plaza Park that you guys have here, I mean what a great center of the city.

I mean it's- - It has been an amazing addition to downtown Port Huron.

And I can't express enough like how grateful I am for the entire city of Port Huron's team and McMorran team to make this happen.

Like since this has happened last summer, our downtown is completely different, you know, just full of people from Thursday through Sunday.

- But now, the Blue Water Festival is a big deal here because it happens every year during the boat races, correct?

- That is correct.

- And what if people come up for this?

What can they expect?

- Well, it is the biggest summer festival that we have in downtown Port Huron.

It takes place in conjunction with the Bayview Port Huron-Mackinac race.

So every year, like we slide a little different just following those guys.

And they should expect to see over 200 sailboats.

It is the biggest sailboat race in the Great Lakes.

And then outside of the boat, in the boat races, you would see the festival feel.

We have street vendors, fireworks, carnival, like three different stages with live music.

We have local music.

We have national acts.

This year, we have Rodney Atkins and Austin Snell and the Wild Feathers coming in, which is, you know, their first time playing in our downtown, so we're very, very excited for that.

- Just the fact that you have the water here is...

I live in Michigan, but I live so far away from the water.

I forget, you know, that it's here.

Yeah, I brag about downtown Port Huron all the time.

It's such a great mix of cultures and people and the architecture, and you have the water, which is so wonderful.

You even have Frederick Meyers statues.

I mean, and you're found here.

Those are iconic.

That's beautiful.

Yeah, that's what living by the water.

And it's an international border crossing the giant ships that you see going under the bridge everyday.

What a wonderful place to live, work, play, raise a family, own a business, or just come and spend a weekend.

I'm an hour from here, so my wife and I come here all the time.

We do the river walk, look at the boats, look at the beautiful blue water, aqua water, and then come into town and have dinner.

So anyway, getting back to the festival.

Sorry, I just love it here.

- No, I'm glad you do.

I found somebody that love it as much as I do.

- So you've got live bands, you've got.

And it looks like there's gonna be street vendors.

- Yes.

So we had this partnership with GLP Events.

They are amazing.

In this year, we have 86 vendors who signed up from all over the states.

So if you're looking for unique shopping, we not only have our downtown merchants, but now, you can like buy art or like any sort of like handmade things from all over the states riding for here and for this weekend.

- You also have something here I just heard about last night called Mannequins Making a Difference.

Are they real mannequins or people being mannequins?

- People being mannequins, which is even better.

So we all started with one of their salons here in downtown.

They decided to make their like their own.

And then you can vote for your favorite.

And we raised money like as a fundraiser for our non-profit of their choice.

This year, however, the salon is like partnering with other salons as well as artists.

So now, we have multiple mannequins from different people and they all look very, very different.

You should check it out.

- [Tom] This is where they stand in like on the sidewalk and they're completely still.

- Yes.

- And how long do they stand that way?

- Four hours.

- Four hours.

I don't think I can do four minutes.

(Natacha laughing) This would be me.

Look, can I go to the bathroom like.

I'm hungry, I need... Yeah, that's amazing they can do that.

- It's pretty fantastic.

- But for a good cause, it's worth it.

So we'll check that out.

That sounds really cool.

- Yes, please do.

- Port Huron in three words, go.

- Oh my gosh, they put me on the spot.

- No, that's perfect.

Oh my gosh.

You did it.

That's your new city slogan.

Port Huron.

- [Both] Oh my gosh.

(Natacha laughing) - I love it.

Let's roll with that.

- I'm telling you, if they ever conduct a contest that measures the fun you can have at a festival, Port Huron just might take first prize.

The Blue Water Festival really is a marvelous manifestation of the port side pride these people possess.

So come share it with them.

I guarantee it, they'd love to have you.

(bright music) (logo whooshing) (logo swooshing) Is your current libation letting you down?

Well, there's a new potent potable in Port Huron that promises to please your palate.

And if you can say that three times fast, you haven't had it yet.

(playful music) Well, you can take that alliteration literally because Renaissance Man whiskey is making its mark with discerning distillers everywhere.

It's an award winning whiskey put together by two young guys with an all-encompassing passion for the process.

It also happens to be an amazing new place with awesome ambiance where you can sit, sip and simply be yourself, or with a flurry of your favorite friends.

Yup.

This smooth whiskey and pleasant place are the collaboration of Aaron Wideman and John Fitzgerald.

Two cool dudes whose enthusiasm for what they do is endless.

This is where I usually start out by saying I don't even know where to start with you guys 'cause you're so fascinating, but I do know where to start.

- What's that?

- You guys actually won an award for your whiskey before you even open.

- That's correct.

- Yes, yes.

- How does that even happen?

- So we wanted to... We have this patent pending invention, right?

We wanted to test it within the world stage.

So what we did is we took some white whiskey off the shelf and utilized our invention with it and threw it into an international competition to see how it would stand.

- [Tom] And you guys won?

- [Aaron] And we won a silver medal.

- But now, before we even get to your whiskey, you guys are both fascinating people.

Just give me a brief synopsis of just who you are.

- I joined the Marine Corps in 2012.

And I spent five years in there and I did multiple tours to Japan in the West Pacific.

While I was there, I fell in love with this technique called Yakisugi.

And it's this ancient Japanese technique for burning wood where they would burn the cedar plants that go on the exterior of their house and they makes it fire resistant, water resistant and bug repellent, but it's also beautiful as hell.

So when I got out of the Marine Corps, I started a custom woodworking business centered around that.

And so I would just make custom tables out of Yakisugi.

Then when it blew up and became a global brand and John's business was taking out the same time, we finally decided that we should pull the trigger on our dream business, which is a distillery.

- Now, John, give me a little feel of your past.

- So actually, Aaron and I met when I was 13.

- Yes.

- And this is where my whole life actually started, because I was a slightly more than slightly overweight child and Aaron was sneaking into my parents' house to get me to go to the swimming pool or to the gym before school even started.

Right.

So since then, kicked off a giant personal training career where I opened up a couple gyms, helped a whole bunch of people do what they needed to do.

And then when he came back from the Marines, we picked right up where we left off and he's like, "Hey, you wanna start that bar?"

- Why whiskey?

- Oh, we love whiskey.

- Oh, no, there you go.

That's all I need to hear.

(Tom laughing) - [Aaron] We're both part Irish.

(Tom chattering) - [Tom] Yeah.

I understand your process is different than anybody else.

It's organic, it's better for the environment.

Explain why that is.

- Everything and every detail matters.

So the organic chemistry, that matters.

To have a distillate that doesn't have glyphosate or any type of herbicides or pesticides, you can taste the difference.

- Yes, you can.

Because if you think about it this way, like if you spray your corn grain with herbicides or pesticides and then you make a beer out of it, then you distill it, you're not just distilling the grain, you're distilling down those chemicals that are sprayed onto the plant.

- So you're ultra concentrating things you don't want in your body.

- So that's the organic side.

Now, the conservation side is when we decided to do the distillery thing, we didn't have enough capital to wait eight years for it to age in a barrel.

So we were curious with his scientific mind background and my knowledge of wood burning, can we circumvent this?

And the first experiment we did within eight hours, whiskey started changing from clear to dark, and we knew that we had something there.

From there, we did research to see, I was just doing math just to see like how much it's gonna cost and how much tree are we using.

And we found out that our process actually uses 98% less trees in the standard barrel.

- And as far as the ambiance, 'cause I mean places are three, it's service, your product, and the atmosphere and ambiance when you go to a place.

What inspired the theme you have here, and the paintings, you have to tell me about the paintings on the wall.

- 100%.

Every single painting within this space was painted by my dad, and they're centered around this one theme, especially Capone, who was painted back there.

All of decor in here and the look, the way that we dress, the way that our staff dress is focused on the prohibition because Port Huron was known as whiskey bay back during the prohibition, because Al Capone worked with the Purple Gang to bring 75% of all illegal alcohol for the United States came through Port Huron.

(Tom laughing) Because we are the first distillery to ever be here, we had to lean into that history.

- You guys are inspiring, you really are.

I mean for anybody and young people out there that wanna start their own business, this guy, people like you that, you know, when you pulled up your bootstraps and you made some happen and that's... You guys don't have any whiskey I could taste, do you?

- A hundred percent, we do.

- We have a few bottles.

- Yeah, just a little bit.

We gotta ration it.

(everybody laughing) - That's from the military, right?

- Yeah.

- Well, I came, I saw, I sat, I sipped, and I surrendered to the fine feeling of this first class whiskey.

It's smoothed with four Os, and the awesome ambiance all around me made it all the better.

Simply put, Renaissance Man Whiskey is one you're really gonna wanna try.

And as for Wrigley Hall, this is definitely a place that you need to explore next time you're looking for a bite to eat or an exciting evening out.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta continue being cool.

Not.

(funky music) (logo whooshing) (logo swooshing) Well, right now, it's the big moment you've all been waiting for, the 2023 Bayview Port Huron to Mackinac Island Sailboat race.

It's exciting, historic, and people come from far and wide to participate.

Applaud those who do and party Port Huron style.

And get this, it's the world's longest continually run, long distance freshwater yacht race.

So without further ado, let's go dockside and find out more about this incredible race from the Port Huron Yacht Club Commodore with more, Tyson Connolly.

Tyson, where's your commodore outfit?

I bought this online for you.

- I'm disappointing your fans out there.

You know, I should have had my dress whites on, but we'll have 'em on tonight for our annual cocktail party here at the Port Huron Yacht Club.

- Well, I will embarrass you no further.

Let me hold on a second.

How did you become a commodore?

That's such an awesome title.

- Well, thank you.

I grew up in this yacht club.

My father was commodore at Port Huron Yacht Club in 1989.

And this is actually my second run as commodore.

I was commodore of the Port Huron Yacht Club in 2009 and I did it again this year for the 100th anniversary of our yacht club, which we're celebrating right now.

- Is this race really almost a hundred years old?

- So this is the 99th consecutive sailing of the Bayview port here in the Mackinac sailboat race.

Started in 1925 with 12 boats going north.

- They had 12 boats the first year.

- 12 boats.

Yeah.

Isn't that incredible, right?

And we're gonna have over 200 here this weekend.

But really, the Port Huron Yacht Club was founded due to the fact that Chicago Yacht Club had started to do the Chicago Mackinac a few years earlier and there was a lot of interest on this side of the state to do similar kind of race.

Well, it's really tough to start from Detroit to go to Mackinac Island due to the currents and the rivers that you have to navigate to get up there.

And Port Huron was selected as the starting point naturally with the geographical convenience of Lake Huron.

And now, the Port Huron Yacht Club was founded in 1923 with the thought of doing a Mackinac race.

- Now, we can't see the race start from here because obviously, the boats all go out.

I guess, there's a parade tomorrow morning, the boats all go out and they're playing bagpipes.

Or how does that work?

- Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

So at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, things get started here.

We have bagpipes on the deck of the yacht club.

And we're actually gonna have two civil war cannons commemorating our 100th year anniversary going off at the point here between the Black River and the St. Clair River.

And it is a scene that is super unique in the Great Lakes and really throughout the sailing community, you know.

Both the Canadian side of the river, the US side of the river are lined up with people and, you know, 200 boats going out into lower Lake Huron to start this incredible race.

- Now, I know why you're the commodore 'cause you personify the passion that people have for this event and for this race and for this sport.

How far away do people teams come from?

- Yeah, so actually, one of the most amazing stories we have here is we have a team from the Naval Academy that's here doing the race.

So six sailors from Annapolis are up here to compete in the race this year.

Very excited.

Got to meet them the other night and they were having a great time yesterday getting their boat prepared.

But sailors really come from all over the country.

Great sailors like Ted Turner and Gary Jobson have come in to do this race.

Sailors like Katie Pettibone, who's done America's Cups and around the world races, grew up right here, grew up doing this race.

So the level of, you know, professional to intermediate, it's all in between there.

- Yeah.

Well, if you know of a team that needs an anchor, I'm their guy.

- We call it rail meat, Tom.

Rail meat.

(both laughing) - 'Cause I don't float good, but I'd make a great anchor.

(Tyson laughing) - No, it's fantastic.

- Yeah.

And just real quick and just a couple words, what do you love about Port Huron?

I mean, I know what's there not to love?

- Oh.

You know, I just feel like underrated.

Port Huron, I grew up here.

I came back here after college.

I have a great passion for this blue water area.

I think it's an undiscovered gem in our state and- I can't say enough good things about Port Huron and the blue water area and the people that are making it happen here.

There's really a great energy going on here right now.

If you've seen the new Wrigley Center.

You know, I feel like a great passion for this area and I'm just really happy to be a part of it.

- Well, I know what to say when you catch a fish and you're fishing, you scream fish on.

But what do I say to you?

You know, at the eve of... You're gonna be racing tomorrow.

What do I say to you?

- You say, go fast, Tom.

- Go fast, Tom.

Wait a minute.

- Oh, go fast, Tyson.

- Oh, there you go.

That didn't seem right.

(laughs) This amazing competition is a special spectacle you really need to see and be a part of.

The energy and excitement it creates throughout the entire town is contagious and couldn't be more fun.

The next time you're in the mood for a new adventure that includes parades, parties, music, art, great food and friendly people, not to mention an awesome armada, check out the Bayview Port Huron to Mackinac sailboat race.

And next time you're looking for a cool city to sink your fun and entertainment teeth into, take out a map and stick a pin in Port Huron.

And while you're at it, you may as well leave it in there because you'll be back again and again and again.

(guitar chiming) - [Narrator] Pure is what you make of it.

It's taken it all in and never taken anything for granted.

(inspirational music) The sun sets, the moon rises, and you realize the end of one perfect summer day is the beginning of another.

Pursue your pure in Pure Michigan.

- [Narrator] A visit to the Stahls auto collection will take you back to a time when cars were more than just a way to get around.

A fantastic assortment of gas pumps, neon signs, and automated music machines dating back 150 years that must be seen and heard.

Info a stahlsauto.com.

- [Narrator] Brought to you by Frankenmuth, a Great Lakes Bay region community.

Visit GoGreat.com for more info.

(electronic upbeat music) (gentle music) (upbeat music) - [Tom] I've been around the world, but there's one place I keep coming back to.

On this awesome episode of "UTR", we're back in Port Huron to tell tales of amazing trails, have some Blue Water Festival fun, and tip a few with some Renaissance Man.

Then it's a famous boat race that's known all over the place.

This is an under the radar you just gotta see.

(electronic music ends) (logo whooshing)