Soo Locks Visitor Center closes for 2024 season

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District closes the Soo Locks Visitor Center in Canal Park at 7 p.m. Oct. 31 for the 2024 season.

Visitor Center hours for the remainder of Oct. are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. The park is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily for the month of October and will transition to winter hours (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) on Nov. 1. 

“In addition to our regular exhibit updates this season, we added new photos and information to our Virtual Tour exhibit featuring the ongoing work on the New Lock at the Soo,” Chief Park Ranger Michelle Briggs said. “For 2025, we will have a new large format aerial view of the facility showing visitors a birds-eye view of the Soo Locks taken in September 2024 with demolition of the Sabin Lock underway.”

Canal Park at the Soo Locks welcomed over 275,000 visitors from May 1 to Oct. 1 with over 216,000 stopping in the Visitor Center to get boat schedules, ask questions and check out the exhibits inside. Throughout the season, park rangers led walking tours, ranger talks and other special activities for nearly 600 visitors and 1,264 children and 596 adults took water safety pledges and received water safety goody bags.

The Visitor Center will reopen May 1 for the 2025 season.

During the off season, Detroit District Park Rangers have a great line up of Virtual Visitor Center programs scheduled for the first Thursday of each month from October to April. The next presentation on Nov. 7, held at 12:30 p.m. ET, will feature the story of Sagamore and Barge 129, the Shipwreck Coast’s lost whalebacks. Other planned topics include the Great Lakes Maritime Academy, the Eisenhower Lock of the St. Lawrence Seaway and several other navigation-related programs. 

For upcoming Virtual Visitor Center programs, visit: https://www.facebook.com/USACEDetroitDistrict.