Exploring Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula: Hidden Gems & Local Heritage

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hello everyone and welcome back for another episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series. Our guest today is Brad Barnett. Brad is the executive director of Visit Kemano, the destination marketing organization for Michigan's Kemano Peninsula, which promotes outdoor recreation, historical, and cultural experiences. Brad, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast. Welcome.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Hey Howard, thanks so much for having me. I love the shop behind you there.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

It looks like a beautiful place. But it does. And I was as I was kind of selecting the photos for my background, I'm thinking, I wouldn't mind being up there right about now. It's only 110 degrees here in uh Boulder City. But and I have to secondly thank you really. Anytime I do an episode with a Michigan destination, I feel like I'm coming home. Now, you are at the perhaps the most northernest part of Michigan, but nonetheless, you know, it's it's still coming home because I have been out in the Keweenaw Peninsula, have visited it when I was a youngster. I had more hair back then. But it's it's really great to have you on the podcast and just really learn to learn more about uh and share with our listeners why you ought to be thinking about why our guests ought to be thinking about visiting the Keweenaw Peninsula. So looking forward to our conversation today.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Love it. Yeah, no, I I appreciate you give us the time and space to share a little bit about the Kewanaw Peninsula and hopefully wet the appetites of your audience to dig in a little bit deeper and learn more about our destination. But man, I saw you had some downstate trolls in pre past episodes, and like we got to get the upper peninsula represented here, and so I appreciate again the opportunity to talk a little bit with you.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Oh, excellent. Yeah, I had some great episodes, and uh what was it to visit Muskegon, Blue Water CVB, and also uh down in Kalamazoo. And yeah, I I actually had uh I had two nieces that went up to school up in the uh the the northern Michigan area, and I I know how much fun they had, they had great educations, but I mean I just remember how beautiful it was up there. But for our listeners, now I uh describe if you would where is the Keweenaw Peninsula?

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Well, we'll we'll start with Michigan because most people know we're Michigan is at, right? You put you got you got the hand. If you're if you're if you're if you love the know the UP, you might kind of use your other hand, right? Kind of put it up here, right? And this is this is Michigan's upper peninsula. So we are at the thumb. I'm gonna waggle my thumb here real quick, which is the Keweenaw Peninsula, which is as you astutely pointed out, Howard, the most northern portion of uh of Michigan, right in the heart of Lake Superior. And so for the Keweenaw, whether you live here or you visit here, Lake Superior plays such a vital role in the recreation activities that we have, the life, the culture, the the the big the big lake provides a lot for us. And so whenever you think of the Keweenau, you got to think of Lake Superior. But I always like to share, think about how far north we are. We're actually further north than 70% of Canada's population, right? So there's only 30% of the people who live in Canada that are further north than the Keweenau Peninsula, if that gives you any perspective.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Okay, okay. Now, weather-wise, uh right now we have a heat wave going uh in the the southwest here in Nevada and specifically Boulder City. I think it's gonna be about 110, 111 degrees today. So that's what I said. I go out early to enjoy my coffee, and I don't go out into the, I don't leave again until the sun sets. But what's the weather going to be like today?

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Yeah, so we're I mean, we're looking at a ball weed 78 degrees, maybe a little cooler along the lake shore. So again, Lake Superior provides a nice little moderating effect for the Keweenaw Peninsula. It keeps us cooler in the summer times and actually keeps us warmer during the winter times, interestingly enough. So, you know, the term, I don't know if you've heard the term coolcations, uh, Howard, right? That became popular over the last handful of years. The Keweenaw is a great destination for those coolcation spots. If you're starting to look to say, hey, those those triple-digit uh days wherever we're at, uh getting a little old, come cool off here on the keywenaw, jump in the big lake, enjoy the cooler breezes. It's uh it's it's certainly refreshing, uh, to say the least. I don't know how you do the 110-degree weather. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

I I sometimes wonder that myself. Now, how did you end up uh in uh the Kewana Peninsula in this work as the executive director uh for uh this destination?

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yeah, it I mean it's it's happened stats. It's sort of like the universe directed us in this direction. You mentioned higher ed. You had a couple of uh family members who went to school in northern Michigan. Well, in Houghton, Michigan, which is the metropolitan hub of the Keweenau Peninsula, and that's home to Michigan Technological University. And so it's a science and technology and engineering school, and it's actually highly renowned across the Midwest and across the country these days. I went there back in 2013. I was drawn up there for a doctoral program. And so my family and I, we uprooted our lives in in Kentucky and moved up there, fell in love with the keynote. We couldn't even find a better place to call home, especially if you love the outdoors. You basically, and you know, I like to tell people you follow up out of bed, you'll hit a trail, right? And so it really is a great destination for people who want to explore nature. And so we fell in love with the community. And the question was is how do you make make life work uh that way? And and the keynote has many things, but heavily populated is not one of them. In terms of population size, we've got about 37,000 residents um across two counties, so pretty sparsely populated. So finding jobs is a little tough. But I was lucky enough to land into an economic development role with the local planning region, um, which allowed me to do some work with local communities on recreation planning and things like that. And then that spun out into working with the destination marketing organization. Once I got really familiar with the communities, the community partners, the stakeholders, what there was to do for outdoor recreation, winter, summer, or fall. Um, that kind of led me just naturally into the DMO space. Um, because there was a huge opportunity for us to promote the Keweenaw Peninsula, not just as a destination amongst the UP, but maybe even a destination beyond the Upper Peninsula. And uh and so I jumped on that opportunity. I've been there ever since.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Excellent. You you mentioned the the uh the seasons. Would you describe the visiting Keweenaw and the the counties and all over this area? Would you describe it as a four-season destination?

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Yeah, I would say I would definitely, I mean, I'm paid to describe it as a four-season destination. So we'll we'll we'll call it we'll call it three and a half, depending on what your tolerance level is, um, for for uh outdoor recreation experiences. And I say that tongue in cheek because every destination is really leaned into sort of a four-destination market. That's where our shoulder seasons are at, just like any any destination. Um, but if you're really an outdoor enthusiast, uh every season has something for you in the Kiwanau Peninsula, grand or UP or Upper Peninsula as we call it. And so during the summertime, beautiful beaches, beautiful hiking trails, biking trails will probably get into the thick of that type of activity, but it really is about accessing nature and all its glory, blue sky, sunshine, all that good fun stuff. But what we're really known for actually is our winters. So, Howard, every when people think about Michigan winters, they usually think sort of gray, kind of uh just kind of getting through winter. This is where really the key one really shines. We get around 300 inches of lake effect snowfall every winter. So that's a lot of snow, and that's outer snow. It's generated by the lake effect, uh, warmer air masses coming over. I'm sorry, cooler air masses coming over Lake Superior, getting that warm air mass, and then that generating light, fluffy powder. So we are a destination for snowmobiling, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, all that good fun stuff. And that Lake Superior factor in the wintertime actually keeps us a little bit warmer than what you would find in other parts of the Midwest. So while maybe in Duluth, we're sitting at a balmy five degrees, um, in the QA Peninsula, we're probably closer to like 25 degrees. So that's just perfect weather. If you want to get outdoors, you want to ski, you're not freezing, you got all this abundant powder. It's a really cool place to explore. We get into springtime, uh, a little bit different for us. Like we're trying to evolve that. Uh that as a destination time of year, but it's certainly a shoulder season for us. But things are a lot quieter, particularly again on the trails as things begin to thumb out. We have lots of waterfalls. So waterfalls, dark skies. That's become a big push for us too in the springtime. But we have very little white pollution. So if you want to check out the northern Borealis, the northern lights, um, you want to avoid the bugs, you want to avoid the crowds, that's a great time of year to come up to Key Mount Peninsula and check out this truly mashed dark sky. So yeah, the last season uh would be fall, and we really do a great job when it comes to fall color because our leaves are so vibrant. And again, that's thanks to, in large part, Lake Superior at Northern uh location on the globe, it really provides a really spectacular array of reds, golds, line, and oranges during the fall color season.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Excellent. By the way, I I as you and I had our conversation uh earlier and just kind of teeing up this episode. And uh and I know for our listeners, uh Vizaki when I had a uh press trip for uh members of the Outdoor Writers Association of America, the OWAA, and my peers visited there last uh year during the in the winter season, I think it was like around February. I was signed up, I couldn't make it. And then here you are, you and I are having this conversation. But I have to say, Brad, you just said the magic words a minute ago because when I moved to uh Nevada from Chicago back in 2000, I had an opportunity to come out here and do some coaching work. That's my other day job besides podcasting. I wanted to get out into the desert to see the dark skies. And you just mentioned the dark skies up in the keyword, and I'm thinking that's what I want to go visit because I want I want to see the dark skies. The hopefully, I know it's hit or miss the Borealis, but uh I I think just seeing the the area, nature at its finest, but knowing the dark skies are up there has gotta be amazing.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

It is. I mean, when you can we when you can just step outside and turn your head towards the heavens and just look at the sky. I mean, it's it makes you feel cliche, but it makes you feel small and makes you feel like your car is something bigger. And uh that's one of the things about the Keween pencil I love that I love sharing with my daughter. Just whether you're just driving home and you just step outside, like out of your car, you just look up and you start with you see the Orion constellation, you point that out, the Big Dipper. It's just it's just really cool. And I go back, I mean, part of what makes the QA a great place for this is because we are again basically surrounded by Lake Superior uh to the north, you know, the west and the east, right? So you don't have that ambient light pollution being thrown like you might have in other parts, even in the Midwest. And so it just leads to deeper, darker sky. So if the northern when the northern lights come out, it's fantastic, it's a treed. But as long as it's a cloudless night, you get to really get to see some amazing, spectacular displays. Um, all of your rack spirit.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Excellent. New moon and a cloudless night. I love it. I love it. So, how has visit Q and R evolved as a destination marketing organization? Here we are, 2026. There was a huge spark to the destinations getting outside exploring nature back in uh 2020 during the COVID pandemic because getting outside was really the only way we could stay sane. Yeah, because and and away from other people, so keep our families safe. But even before that, how do you see that this area in the peninsula changing as a destination over the years?

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Yeah, I so I came on board with Visit Key Wanaught uh in 2019, and uh referred to as the QA C B or Convention and Visitors Bureau at that time. So I remember at that time the organization was honestly fairly insular. Our role was promotion, our budget was quite small at the time, and uh our focus was on visitor-centric communication, getting people to market. And and that was really the philosophy of the organization at the time. The COVID pandemic turned that on its hand on quite a bit. First, it forced our organization to think more broadly about the role of the deal. It it required us to think more about our community, our role in terms of economic development, you know, our stewardship roles when it comes to you know inviting people to our community and how they interact and experience the QANA once they got here. Initially, the idea was our only job was just to get people to the QA, to get them here. After that, our responsibilities ended. We've done our jobs post-pandemic or even during the pandemic, when there was an absence of or a void of, oh heck, what do we do? Like, how do we interact with visitors? How do we interact with community leaders? How do we interact with our residents? There was a real sort of capacity gap there in a small real community like the QAnot Peninsula that in many cases our organization stepped in and sealed because we knew that without the visitor economy, our local co-op economy, which as diverse as it is for such a small region, needed those visitor dollars. So, how do we do that responsibly, safely? And that was sort of that collection point in which our organization had to think more broadly about our within our community and sort of what what tasks we were going to assign ourselves and the responsibilities we were assigning ourselves. And so once we got to that 2021 period where things opened up uh in Michigan, and there was a real boom uh in terms of visitation, like you aptly described, the question was all right, well, now people are here. So, how do we make sure that we're now good stewards of our community? We're we're getting the business, the words getting out about the Humana Peninsula, the marketing, all the all the work, the seeds that we had planted for years were really coming to fruition, all the work that our community partners have done in terms of trail building and stewardships of our local history and beaches and culture coming to fruition. Now, how do we make sure that that's being done in a responsible way? How are we being good stewards of the region? And how are we using that as a springboard for, again, more intentional destination brand? So it was more instead of it just being, let's get people here, that's all we're trying to do is get people here. Is how are we doing that in terms of representing the destination? What are we putting forward in terms of how we want people to think, feel about the QAnon? And then once they get here, how are we being good partners and stewards of our local communities? And so that was a real sort of cultural shift for us over a few years, and uh and it's it's led us to where we are today as a destination market organization.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Excellent. And I'm curious, uh, in terms of the the stewardship and the impact to the communities, uh albeit I realized only 37,000 residents or so, how have the residents stepped up to realize they are in some ways our brand ambassadors when you come here, you know, and the visit? I you know, uh first thing I'm gonna do is go find a pasty, by the way. And you got it, yeah. For our listeners, I will provide a link in our show notes of what is a pasty. But how are they how are the how have how have they been affected by this increase of or influx of folks wanting to visit and having that are that are thoughtful and uh prov thought historical, informational, and just and they're leaving with this wow, what a great place, what great people. So how have they stepped up?

SPEAKER_01 16:33

I you know, I think the crazy thing about the pandemic and how it impacted that segment or that that component of our visitor economy was before the pandemic, we had a a very high rate of returnee visits, right? It was a lot of it was the same, and I'm not saying there's any for disparity, but it was the same families, it was the same groups of people who had a long history of visiting the Upper Peninsula and the QAnot Peninsula. The pandemic brought in a lot of new visitors, first-time visitors, younger visitors, perhaps even more affluent visitors when it comes to discretionary spending. And so that shift and not just getting people who are coming here for the first time who were less familiar and oftentimes coming from even further away. We're we're about five hours from the closest drive market. Howard, we pull pretty heavily from like the Detroit area of Michigan. So that's a nine-hour, 10-hour drive. We're we started seeing people coming from Florida, from California. We even saw Alaskan license plates, right? As we started getting more and more coverage in things like uh, whether it's outside magazine, National Geographic, Yahoo, all that kind of syndicated stuff. And so for our community, back to your point, our community members started to see this from visitors with fresh, new eyes, new perspective. And I think that actually elevated the amount of pride that our community had in its and their communities as a destination, knowing that they were drawing visitors from as far afield, not just from the same sort of visitor sheds that we were used to seeing. And because of that, right, that recognition and that sense of pride that we have something, something really special in the key one that perhaps community members didn't quite recognize. They it's kind of like you live in your community. Uh, it's not until you leave and come back that maybe you see the beauty that was had been there the entire time. And that was what I think our community's partners and sponsors and residents started to see like, holy heck, this place is something that's truly special. It's something very unique and it's worth both celebrating and preserving. And so then we started seeing uh organizations and entrepreneurs step up and say, okay, if there's a real market opportunity here, we're getting more people coming, they're willing to pay more. And so that was something that changed too in the Kymena Peninsula, this idea of valuation, right? That that you know, people are willing to spend more money to come here, that we didn't have to necessarily be competing on a on a on a cheapness playing field, that we had to be the most economical option, recognizing that there was true here in key in the Kyonan and that people were willing to pay for it, also helped elevate that sense of pride. We had a we had an entrepreneur who opened up a hotel in downtown Boat, Michigan, and Stavalt Hotel, the new boutique hotel that opened up in 2020, I believe, 2020, right during the right before the pandemic. And um, the idea of getting room rates uh of $350 a night, they were they were laughed at by many local business owners. You'll never get that in the Kewanaw Peninsula. Well, after the pandemic, they they got those rates and they set those rates, and uh, and now uh they look back and say, you know what? Hey, people are willing to pay that for the experience here in the Kiwana Peninsula. And that's again a source of pride that we all share.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Excellent. Excellent. So speaking of the the impact to the community and the new opportunities for experiences, the outdoor, the historical, perhaps just the the the slow nature of just being up in the key when I would love if we could uh take a quick visit of your website, maybe take uh if for a quick tour if that's okay, because uh I got a good segue. Awesome. Well, we got a good website, let's show it off. All right, let's do it. So the Miracle Modern Technology, there's my share button. Always gotta make sure I can see it. There's that button. All right, if everything worked out, you should be seeing the website. Yeah, we've got it. Great. I can see it. That's a good looking site. I love it. Yes, it is. Look at that. Look at that body of water. I think I recognize that in a way.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Oh, that's my that's my favorite beach. So it's Bay Degree Beach, Howard. That's uh in my opinion, the most beautiful beach in uh in the upper peninsula. But uh maybe I'm biased.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Excellent. Well, I see 74 degrees at this time. Excellent. So take us on a little tour. What not only some of the highlights, but if folks want to learn more or need to be able to plan out this trip and just kind of do some slow vacationing.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Yeah. So I mean, the first place I would I would start if I were encouraging people to check out the website. Uh, if you scroll down a little bit, of course, we've got that beautiful image of the beach, we can start to kind of get into the different experiences that people would like to see and do and share. I'm very proud of the amount of uh not just outdoor beauty but natural beauty, but also special events that happen here in our community. You can see there as we scroll down a little bit further, some Finnish American flags and bonfires. We just wrapped up our Yuhanu summer celebration special. Uh, the QA, one of its unique identifiers is its uh Finnish American heritage. Uh, and so we're leaning into that. So definitely check out our sections when it comes to special events. We have them all year round. But a point that I really want to highlight for you uh is this next section here. Um, how we're it's our destination development section. And this is something that as a DMO, we've we've been leaning into very uh aggressively, which is how do we help a bunch? Leverage the resources that we generate as a destination marketing organization and reinvest them back into our community. And visit Key When I've really become a leader in the destination development space, uh, at least in Michigan. And so we're very proud of this. So if you're a visitor, we want to highlight that good. Your visitor visit actually means something to this community. It actually gets reinvested into this community. Click on that, yeah. You can start to see if we scroll down through here, uh, examples of how individual visits uh to the Kippon Peninsula gets reinvested back into the heritage spaces, the cultural spaces, and the ecological spaces of the Kiwanot Peninsula. You can scroll down. Yeah, that guy, he's a he's a smooth talker, let me tell you. So if you want to uh scroll down a little bit further, you can actually start to dig into some of the grants. So if people come to the website, I mean it's it's extremely user-friendly, but we have uh itineraries and guides um that are really handcrafted and curated by local QA residents and members of us at Key Winnow. So definitely check that out. And the last thing I want to plug, and this just literally just went live um within the last four to eight hours, is under our planning section, we've been really intentional about creating opportunities for individuals to travel with uh destination stewardship and sustainability in mind. So by all means check that out.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Sure. Now I was curious with the destinations and the stewardship. And I also, as I was preparing the show notes, you know, for our interview, um, there was also this collective, but there's a lot more going on really to tackle what's needed in the not only the industry, but how do we make T1O experience that much more impactful to the visitor?

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Yeah, I philosophically we know any industry has its has its uh blemishes and it has its beauty spots, right? And and tourism is certainly no different, but we know that tourism can be a force for good and it can be a force um that can bring a lot of positive uh resources and benefits to communities. And so at VisitQ and I, we've been blessed to be able to join uh almost like a worldwide think tank called uh the collective. And this is being organized by folks um within uh the destination think organization. And we're one of two uh Michigan-based DMOs who have been uh asked or invited to join, and that's a connected us with thought leaders, uh, not just in the United States, but across North America uh and even in Europe and across the globe. And so we've been able to have this conversation both internally within our own communities, but then also with leaders in this space from across the globe about well, when you're operated towards some destination like the QAnot Peninsula that has a low population, um, but very reliant upon volunteers and local community services in order to maintain trails and provide public safety and plow the roads when it's snowing three feet, you know, or all those types of things. Like, how do we not overtax um those those resources? And how do we make sure the visitor economy is actually supporting that as opposed to becoming a bird? And so using the tools that we have as a destination marketing organization, one of the things that we've really tried and strived to do is lift up those local organizations that our industry truly relies upon. Part of that's storytelling, you know, and that's letting people know when you come for a visit, um, these are the organizations, these are the people who are doing the work that actually creates the experience that allowed you to enjoy the Kiberon Peninsula. So it's you know, integrating those types of partnerships have been very important for us. And what we're hearing, right, from both our community and visitors is they want more. They want to know more, they want to connect with these experiences. They want while they're here, they want to volunteer for that local festival, or they want to spend some time doing some trail work while they're here. And these are all great ways to get back to a destination, but also create lifelong memories and build relationships as a visitor that you're going to carry with you for the rest of your life. And so if we can help connect people with that, uh, then we know we're doing our jobs and we're creating customers for life.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Sure. You know, it's what I love about podcasting. It's it's a opportunity not just to have a great conversation with an executive like yourself of it of a destination or a chamber of commerce. That's the other niche that I have within my work, but it's the folks that are thinking about the developments, economic development, people development, creating, taking care of the land, the the experienced providers, even volunteers in the community who are stepping up because I know a chamber or a destination, you have volunteers that are out there supporting you. They all have great stories and experiences from interacting with the visitor. And that's that's what I love about the power of the podcast, is you really you're extending this invitation out virtually. You gotta check this area out. It's not just here's the map, here's the plan, and that's it. By the way, our uh website just came back. Uh, I'm gonna I'm gonna try it again. We're we're not gonna change screens too much, but I'm I'm back uh on your homepage. And yeah, so I I'll throw it out there, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Just and this is a lot very self-serving, Howard, but I want to drill this point home, right? DMOs are funded lots of different across the country. I'm located in Michigan, and even within Michigan, we have various ways DMOs are funded. But one thing that's super important, at least for organizations like mine, are that people who come and visit the destination, that they stay with the lodging partners that help fund all the good work that DMOs do. So I would encourage those who come out and check out everybody's looking for sort of a unique lodging experience these days, and you have your preferences and you have brand partnerships. But hey, we encourage you, no matter what destination you're going to, stay with those lodging partners who would help support good causes like responsible recreation, messaging, destination development, stewardship, economic development. Those types of things really do matter. And so that's the reason why when you go to website like visitkeynon.com, you'll see the lodging is very prominently featured on our website.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

Sure. You know, it there was a saying that I I learned from an interview I did a couple years ago, uh, and I can't remember the my guest name, but she was a part of the Alabama Bass Trail. And she had said as a destination, heads in beds and cash register singing. And because it in their destination, there they were funded by the bed tax, which as you within your destination, that perhaps the bed tax is one of your sources of revenue or grants, perhaps. But the it's that experience, those hotels, motels, uh that and you have the opportunity to have a great experience, have a great place to stay, and know that they're gonna provide a great experience for you and help you get acclimated to whatever you're whatever you want to do, whatever season you're in. You got it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

That's you're singing this one. You're singing my tune.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

All right. So we've got uh just kind of going down a little further on the home page. There's our there's our dark sky, which we'll actually July 4th. Those are fireworks. We've got history, beautiful. I mean, you you can't go wrong, I think, with with the just the the vast the vastness of the landscape. Just amazing.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

Yeah. I mean, there's there's no question. I mean, our bread and butter is connecting people with nature, connecting people with experiences. Uh, you're getting to, as you scroll down a little bit further there, you're getting to our web series called The Crossing Place, and that kind of touches right back into that storytelling that you we were discussing a second ago. It's uh it's a very cool product where we connect people, visitors, viewers, with the people who and organizations who are honestly doing great things here on the QA Peninsula. And we're really intentional with the stories that we feature. We're very blessed to have uh some great creative talent uh within our own visit QANA staff that allows us to produce these videos. But really, again, this is our opportunity to lift up those people who are actually helping support the destination, oftentimes at for each just because they love this place. And so it's a it's a cool spot.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

Excellent. And uh, we've got the hashtag QAnon Peninsula. I've already got that queued up for my show notes, and looks like you've got Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. I forget what that is, Pinterest. Yeah, I love TikTok now or I'm too old for that. I'm too old for that. But it's a this is a great way to cut you got the about us contact, media, tourism, statistics, partnerships. Just a great website. Love the color. And and I would uh we'll definitely have uh uh the links backed in our show notes of the website and your social sites, and just uh well done here. Well done. Yep. Okay. I'm gonna stop sharing and don't want to uh look at what they say, gift horse in the mouth and have it freeze again on us. So I am curious, Brett, as you look back in your career now in the destination space, is there uh an aha moment of sort where you're like, wow, I get to do what I do for a living, which by the way, I'm envious because I think destinations are if I could go back 20, 30 years, I think I would be working for a destination. But what's your aha moment when you look back and you say, wow, this is what I get to do?

SPEAKER_01 31:56

There are there are moments where you're sort of like you're just spiked the proverbial duck, right? Where your your feet are pedaling underwater and you're just drying and just keep your head above water and that kind of fun stuff. But for me, it's it's when we get to see people truly embrace and enjoy the destination. So there were a couple of experiences that immediately come to mind. Anytime we were putting on a festival hour, and we get to walk down, we get to see 100 people, 500 people, three people, right? But they're smiling, right? And they're enjoying the experience. And you can tell they're like creating that memory that they're going to be thinking about like 13 years from now. Like those are the moments that we were like, my heart, this gets feels a little bit bigger. I mean, you get the we all we get the feels. But the other one, just recently, probably most recent, was we were able to uh partner with the state of Michigan uh to open up a new scenic site um called Houghton Douglas Falls. And Houghton Douglas Falls is the tallest waterfall in the state of Michigan. It's 110 feet, it's a geological marvel, uh, particularly for the by Midwest standards. And I was I had the opportunity to stop off at that site over the Memorial Uh Day holiday weekend and parking lot was full. And by full, I mean 15 cars and with power standards is pretty good in the QA Peninsula, but it was full, every parking spot was taken up, and just seeing the families, right? They're the families are walking the trails, you start to eavesdrop a little bit, or you kind of hear what they're talking about, start making conversation with people oh from and then chatting. What do you think about and just seeing that come to fruition? I mean, that that process started for the QNA uh in 2018, you know. So in 2026, finally got that parking lot, finally got that trail, finally got public access to this really cool spot um for anyone to enjoy. And uh just again, warm by her.

SPEAKER_00 33:43

I love it. And I I was as I was getting preparing the show notes, I was looking at the uh the the more information about the falls, and and that would definitely be on my itinerary because just to be able to see that and just like wow, it's just uh I mean, and this is the beauty. I mean, you're actually making me think about some of the things many years ago. Just you know, I remember Copper Harbor, we were up there like in the fall time frame, or I remember like being on the beach and just laying on a log and looking up in the stars, and I remember there was a uh I saw a shooting star and there was a satellite going by. Nice, you know. Here in the the desert now, you can't help but see satellites because you have all the star links going on. But way back when, I mean, you see a satellite, like, oh, that's pretty cool. Yeah, but uh it's a great, great location. Before we head out today, what insight would you like to share with our listeners about the importance of this work of destinations and what they're providing humanity for the sake of a better word of just getting out there and exploring, slowing down? And yeah, what would be your recommendation?

SPEAKER_01 35:01

Well, I I think what you mentioned just a second ago really resonated with me, which is it's oftentimes it's not even it's not the big stuff, right? It's these small, simple moments. You reference just laying down on a log and looking up in the sky and seeing the stars, right? And that moment has lasted you a lifetime, right? And as destination marketing organizations, like sometimes we we're always rushing for the next big thing. What's the next big story? What's the next big attraction? What's the next big property that's gonna come or the next hotel? But we tend to forget a little bit that sometimes it's the small things that matter for visitors that create that lasting relationship between a destination that's small, like Capra Hurry has 250 people who live there, right? That you remember it because of that experience. And that's something that we as destination market organizations sort of need to remember. And then as we continue to grow in a world where things just seem more stressful, more polarized, a little, a lot of a lot of noise out there, travel has this ability to help connect people. And whether it's just the friends, the loved ones, people you don't know, it's the neighbor or the or the stranger you meet along a travel journey, provides you a little bit of a perspective. And travel has the power, tourism has the power to do that. And so we play a really important role in and maybe finding common ground in a in a world where sometimes uh there's a lot of stress and a lot of things pulling us apart. And so it's been a joy of work in the industry, uh, and uh, and we love what we do as a human officer.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

I love that. I just uh add on just uh an anecdote, uh a friend of mine uh is a uh youtuber influencer, and they were driving the Route 66 from Santa Monica to Chicago. Now I used to live in Chicago less than a mile from the the start on the on the eastern side. But the one thing they said, and you just echoed it, is with all the noise going on around us, the polarity of the politics and those types of things, they were really surprised and happy that the experience of talking to people who are just living their lives and enjoying the fact that here's the hundredth anniversary of Route 66. Uh we're in this community, we're a part of it. And my friend's experience of talking to people and meeting new people from location to location, uh, she said it was amazing. And uh it's exactly what you just echoed is you the in the Key Wanna Peninsula, you've you literally have a nature's way of just helping you slow down, appreciating the surroundings, getting to know the people, the culture, and just you know, having a good experience, taking care of yourselves, connecting back with nature and and improving your physical, mental, emotional health. And it's it's right up there, way up there, but it's there in the QA. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

That's right. We I lunk that sentiment, uh Howard. And we always like to joke, uh, no one gets to the QA by accident. You got you gotta want to get here. You can't you can't get lost and get here like no.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

I I actually love that. You you kind of have to want to go there. Perfect. Listen, Brad, it's been an absolute pleasure to have you on the podcast. I really hope we can stay in touch and and hopefully create some more podcasting opportunities and gives me a chance to get back up to the Q and R because it's been a long time, I will say.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

Invitation is always open, and uh it's been a pleasure, my friend. I appreciate the opportunity, and we'll we're gonna get you up there as soon as we can.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

Perfect. And listen, we're gonna provide backlinks back uh to the visit key when our website, visitkeynaw.com. We've got you on Facebook, Instagram, and the other social sites. Those will be all up on the show notes. And again, thank you so much for spending time with us today. Appreciate you, sir. All right, listen, stay in alignment. We're gonna do a very quick close and you and I can have a final chat. Okay. All right, folks, we have just been chatting with Brad Barnett. He's the executive director of Visit Keweenaw, the destination marketing organization for Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula. Now, for me, I uh as somebody who grew up in Michigan, having spent time in the lower peninsula and in somewhat in the upper peninsula, I do remember one trip, just one to the Keweenaw and Copper Harbor and being on a boat and freezing out on Lake Uh Superior. But this is just a fantastic location and destination. And whether you're in whether you're nine hours from Detroit or 24 hours from Las Vegas, you got to put the Keweenaw Peninsula uh on the map. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. I mean, you can tell Brad's very passionate about his work and the impact that his destination organization uh is is playing and really making uh really and highlighting the importance and the availability of wonderful experiences up in this beautiful place in the world. And as he just said, you kind of have to want to go there. And so I hope after this episode you do want to go there. Now, again, we're gonna provide all the backlinks uh in our show notes. As for us, you can find our uh episodes up on our website, outdooradventureseries.com. We're also on LinkedIn and Facebook on our outdoor adventure series pages. The entire video of this episode will be up on our YouTube channel. And of course, you can listen to this episode wherever you get your podcast from. So when you are making the trek to the Keelanaw Peninsula and spending some time up there and just enjoying yourself, you can listen to this podcast episode and a whole bunch of others wherever you get your podcast from. Okay, folks, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, go out there and have a fantastic day. And we look forward to having you join us on a future episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series Podcast. Take care now.