Fudgies, Flatlanders, and F.I.P.s . . .

. . . Embrace Drummond’s Tourists Warmly!

Tourists are like grandparents – they come to visit, bring lots of stuff, generate some excitement, then leave.

The “stuff” these grandparents bring, however, is actually money. Money that fuels Drummond’s economy.

Money – in these hard economic times – that fewer and fewer tourists are bringing Drummond’s way. For our community to stay vital in this ever changing and competitive tourist market, then local business people and their staffs need to do everything they can to keep folks coming back – coming back and bringing friends and family with them.

Drummond has a long standing tradition of warm hospitality. Just stop by Sune’s Hardware some Saturday if you want to get a sense of what Gary Hernbroth – president of Danville, California-based Training for Winners – means when he says, “It’s the first-line, front desk staff that have the power to generate the magic.” At Sune’s no question goes unanswered, no conversation is complete without a smile and a laugh. No one is ever too busy to answer the phone, find a tool or offer advice. Traits Hernbroth says are essential for all businesses in a community based on the tourist industry.

Hernbroth teaches owners of businesses that cater primarily to tourists that they need to translate their passion for their business and their community to their employees who meet and greet visitors. Jim Kelley of North Haven obviously understands this – Jim is passionate about everything Drummond and it shows.

And I don’t believe anyone gets away with not being greeted by Sue McCaskill whenever she is in residence at The Northwood. Her smile warms up the dining room like no one else’s as she passes from table to table checking on coffee levels and sharing a quick story or two.

However if Drummond Island is to stay competitive, if it is to continue to draw tourists worried about gas prices this far north, then it is best to not rest on past laurels. Hernbroth, in his training sessions for tourist industry stakeholders, offers five rules for providing better service to customers:

Be easy to do business with – It is estimated that 68% of non-returning customers stop patronizing a business because of a perception that the business was indifferent to their needs. Who is answering your phone – is ANYONE answering your phone?!

Listen to your customers – Ask them, “How are we doing?” Customer’s perceptions are more important than what managers think they know. The public’s perception of your business is their reality – and one they will share with others. When someone complains about the service they received take the time to listen closely. Compliments are nice, complaints heeded help your business grow and improve.

Look at little things – Cleanliness in the hospitality industry is BIG! If your bathroom is a mess and customers see that, what’s your kitchen like?

Ask for ideas – Business managers/owners should involve their staff in moving their businesses forward by challenging them to regularly contribute ideas. Employees are on the front line and often see – or hear - the little things managers miss.

Identify your passionate workers – They are the top-performing workers who are already finding ways to help the business. Reward them. Build around them. Clone them!

When the Michigan Tourism Industry Planning Council got together with Eastern Upper Peninsula stakeholders during one of their Listening Sessions, and asked them to rank their most important concerns by vote *Visitor Experience* came out on top. Participants said they needed to guarantee that tourists felt their experience in the E.U.P. was: friendly, full of fond memories, fun, adventurous, enjoyable and left them with a desire to return.

Yes, they are Fudgies, Flatlanders and F.I.P.s – but they are also Drummond Island’s bread-and-butter. Remembering to always follow Gary Hernbroth’s Five Rules for Better Service will ensure that Drummond Island retains its title of “Gem of the Huron”.

On a final, lighter note –

A flatlander dies and goes to Heaven. St. Peter is showing him around. Everything is glorious. There is a music hall with every kind of music, all played with angelic perfection. The dining hall offers food beyond compare.

And the residences, St. Peter assures him, are comfortable beyond all imagination. On their way to the residence halls, they turn down a hall where everyone is chained to the wall. St. Peter offers no comment as they continue down the long passageway. After a few minutes the man asks St. Peter. "If this is Heaven and everything is so wonderful why are these people chained up?"

St Peter answers, "Oh. Those are the downstate Michiganders – Flatlanders. If we don't keep them chained up they try to escape to their cabins on Drummond Island during the weekends."

Let’s keep ‘em coming!

It's Fish Fry Friday!

It is the end of another week. The weekend looms, with its change of pace and flexible ambiance. You’ve grown tired of dispatching quick and efficient evening meals. You don’t have the heart to produce grander fare for a celebration. Hey, it’s Friday night! Time to take a break and go out for fish!

Friday nights on Drummond Island translate to “let’s meet for fish.” You know you can go just about anywhere on a Friday night and find a delicious, reasonably-priced meal of fish. But from my perspective nothing compares to Fish Fry Friday at the Northwood. Especially if Celia is in the kitchen cooking!

Windy and raw, the late, wintry afternoon sinks into dusk. You gratefully seek refuge from the dark and cold, opening the tavern door. Warmth, happy chatter, and the moist aroma of stale beer mixed with frying fish invite you in. The immersion in the familiar excites and soothes. For a moment you wrestle with the anticipation of a cherished meal and fears of a long wait.

Fish Fry Friday is not just a tasty meal, reasonably priced. It is a socially-charged atmosphere where friends, family, and neighbors mingle, exchange stories, share comfort food and drink. All the while partaking of the Island’s famed friendly ambiance. It is an Island event. And it doesn’t matter how long you have been away – on a Friday night sharing stories and eating fish – you are always folded back in to the community.

Woe to unsuspecting Friday travelers arriving at mealtime expecting a fast and easy fish fry! The line may be long, but the wait is part of the festive sequence: strangers break into conversation while friends share camaraderie, sometimes at the bar or over a lively game of pool. Impatience is uncool. Bracketed and bolstered by companionship, the meal will eventually arrive.

When it is over you levitate back home – sated and warmed by food and spirit, the weekend officially opened.

If you head Up North be sure to stop by - the beer is always cold, the fish is always fried to perfection and you won't find a better selection on the juke box anywhere else!

The Northwood Restuarant and Bar

29944 E Channel Rd Drummond Island, MI 49726

906-493-5282

Let's Dance!

“When was the last time you danced?”

– question put to the sick by a Native American Medicine Man

This may or may not surprise many of you that know me well – I LOVE to dance! And no I am not talking about Dancing With the Stars dancing. Just plain old Let’s Dance! dancing.

I have always started every day with 15 minutes of enthusiastic, wild and uninhibited dancing. Any music is good as long as it fills my mind, body and soul with the urge to move. Lately I have been fond of Santana’s Adouma from the Shaman CD. Barry very wisely leaves me alone during these times so as not to “interrupt my creative juices” as he puts it!

Imagine how validated I felt recently when reading an article on health and fitness that listed among its suggestions for helping middle-aged baby boomers achieve fitness without actually having to do an exercise routine they might find unpleasant – none other than a day started with a morning dance!

Raised by a great-grandmother who not only encouraged such foolishness but actually actively participated herself I have come to believe – as a result of her influence – that the beginning of dance is giving gesture to what we feel. And the ongoing effort to dance, to give gesture to what we feel and experience, is an ultimately healing process. Grandma always had her phonograph spinning – mostly jazz and blues. But towards the end of her life she fell in love with Elvis. We would twist and giggle at every opportunity – her polished hardwood floors and my bobby socks adding to the merriment.

My dancing was interrupted a few years ago. Somehow, without realizing it, I had simply stopped. Illness has a funny way of overshadowing one’s life – stealing the laughter from your heart if you are not careful. I let it interrupt my dancing – allowed it to creep into my soul and steal pieces of who I am. I am just now waking up to the idea that in spite of illness I can remain myself if I remember to be happy in small ways. Dancing makes me happy.

So I am once more moving with not-so-wild abandon across the living room floor as the sounds of Santana and Chloe’, our Border Collie, fill the air. It is truly a liberating experience – with its health benefits reaching far beyond the mere calories expended.

I have also started teaching our five-year-old twin grandsons a few “moves” – as Riley calls them – in preparation for summer evenings at the Northwood listening to the jukebox, messing around the dance floor with their grandma while their parents sip cold beers and discuss the catch-of-the-day. There is, after all, a legacy to pass on.

Nietzsche was right – “Without music, life would be a mistake.”
 let’s dance!