Get your binoculars ready because the Lock 7 Viewing Centre has once again opened its doors for the summer season.
Every day you can drop in at the centre, which is run by Venture Niagara, and observe the ships that pass through the Welland Canal.
“What’s exciting for this summer is that the building is actually open,” says Venture Niagara’s business development manager, Susan Morin, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “The last two years, because of the pandemic, we were not open and we would answer their questions at the door. Now the door is unlocked and the people can come in.”
Morin says that the Welland Canal is the main draw for tourists coming to Thorold.
“Everybody loves coming to see the ships,” Morin says. “We’re looking to be quite busy. By what I’m hearing, the American traveller is not coming back as it was in 2019, but I was there several times last week and I saw people from Texas, I even saw somebody from South Africa. People are travelling and dying to get out of the house.”
Morin hopes the viewing centre will be able to lure people into Thorold itself.
“Our main goal is to draw business into our downtown and make sure that they go shopping or eating,” she says. “We have menus and maps to hopefully encourage people to go into Thorold.”
Keep an eye on Thorold Tourism’s Twitter account for the daily schedule of ships that will pass by the viewing centre.