North country venues hoping for major influx of Canadian tourists

May 21—Ashley E. Carlos hopes Canadians are ready to roll into Alexandria Bay this weekend to celebrate Victoria Day, a Canadian federal holiday.

In Canada, Monday marks the birthday of Queen Victoria, who was the ruling monarch at the time of Canada's birth as a country in 1867.

It's a day to celebrate Canada.

And Mrs. Carlos, executive director of the Alexandria Bay Chamber of Commerce, thinks that the St. Lawrence River town is the perfect place to do that.

They just have to drive over the Thousand Islands Bridge or take a boat ride from the north side of the border.

"We're hoping for a couple hundred Canadians to come over and enjoy the weekend," she said.

A-Bay uses the Victoria Day weekend to get a jump on the crucial summer tourism season. Working with the chamber of commerce, about 25 businesses already open for the season are offering discounts and hotel-stay packages to cross-border travelers.

A week away, Memorial Day weekend is typically considered the start of the summer season.

This is the first summer in three years that Canadians can enter the United States without strict restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of April 1, Canadians no longer have to get a COVID-19 test before entering the states. They must still show vaccination cards, however. And most people from Ontario and Quebec have been fully vaccinated, said Corey C. Fram, director of the 1000 Islands International Tourism Council.

He's looking forward to an influx of Canadian visitors this summer.

"It's very exciting," he said.

Merchants, hotel operators, restaurateurs and tourism destinations are expressing optimism about having Canadians back.

A Thousand Islands sightseeing boat line, City Cruises out of Gananoque, Canada, has been bringing visitors twice a week to the historic Boldt Castle.

That will increase to daily trips starting this weekend.

The last time Canadian sightseeing boat lines visited Boldt Castle was 2019 because of the pandemic, said Keri E. Jobson, Boldt Castle's operations manager.

Canadian private boaters also stopped coming over then.

About 30% of the people who visit Boldt Castle are from Canada during a normal year, she said. In 2019, prior to the pandemic, a total of 198,000 people stopped at the castle.

"We are welcoming Canadian boats to our docks and into the castle," she said.

The Can-Am Festival in Sackets Harbor began five decades ago as a way to celebrate the relationship with our Canadian neighbors.

Now celebrating the 50th anniversary of the festival, organizers are planning big things for this year's event on the weekend of July 16 and 17, said Cheryl M. Payne, chair of the festival committee.

A fireworks display returns after several years. A larger parade will be held. Blue Coupe, members of the 1970s rock band, Blue Oyster Cult, will perform. Food, craft vendors and other traditional festival activities are planned.

Last year, a smaller version of Can-Am was held. The event was canceled in 2020.

So Mrs. Payne cannot wait to get Canadians back enjoying the weekend with their neighbors, she said.

Sackets Harbor Mayor Alex M. Morgia is working with his counterparts in Kingston, Canada, to get people to travel down to enjoy this summer's Can-Am, Mrs. Payne said.

Festival organizers are also targeting a marketing campaign to attract Canadians to the quaint village that weekend.

Mrs. Payne knows how the loss of Canadian visitors hurt the local economy during the last two summers.

Mrs. Payne, who has owned Calla Lillies gifts shop in Sackets Harbor for years, lost about 20% of her Canadian shoppers in 2020 and 2021, she said.

"We missed them," she said.

But she's already seen some of them returning in recent weeks to Sackets since the less restrictive pandemic requirements went into effect.

And Timothy Sturick, executive director of the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority, said the number of Canadians traveling over the bridge has increased since April 1.

The number of north- and southbound travelers jumped 105% from March to April. The first two weeks in May also increased about 102%.

Yet the April data is still down 33%, Mr. Sturick said.

For north country folks going to Canada, Mr. Fram says they need to use the app, ArriveCAN, to enter the country. Travelers must use ArriveCAN to provide mandatory travel information before and after their entry into Canada, he said.

With the app requirements, there could be delays crossing the border, Mr. Sturick said.

But he's otherwise optimistic about the summer travel season in the north country.

"If the weather is good, the summer will be good," he said.

This weekend's seasonal weather should bring out Canadian crowds, Mrs. Carlos said.

Once this weekend is over, Alexandria Bay chamber officials will focus on Memorial Day celebrations.

And then they'll host events for the rest of the summer, she said.