St. Andrews place to be despite rain on St. Croix

The headquarters for all the planning for the Ste. Croix 2004 Celebration has been in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. But when the big weekend, eight years in the planning, actually hit, all the action shifted to St. Andrews, 15 miles east.

Specifically, the place to be on Saturday wasn’t in the daylong rain at the outdoor venues. It was in the lobby of the Algonquin, the stately hotel high above the town that transformed into St. Croix Central for the weekend.

The Algonquin is a fancy place for fancy people, all served by bellhops in kilts. Built in 1898, its old wooden floors, wall sconces and high ceilings and wraparound porch suggest a turn-of-the-century era.

Of the hotel’s 239 rooms, about 200 of them were taken last weekend by dignitaries and others associated with the St. Croix festivities. When not at official occasions they mingled and attended functions. On Saturday alone the government of Canada and the government of New Brunswick were hosts at receptions.

But when it was time to head for festivities at Bayside on Saturday, the dignitaries had only walk outside to reconnect with other people and their real-life problems. Dozens of Charlotte County protesters, knowing that New Brunswick politicians were lunching and about to leave, put up a peaceful but noisy protest on the Algonquin driveway. They wanted New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord to learn how unhappy they are with Lord’s plan to close 19 more hospital beds within the county.

Weeks were spent coordinating the law enforcement and emergency management plans that would be in effect for the weekend, and an incident command center was set up next to the Calais Police Department.

But all the training and preparation and extra hands from the Washington County Sheriff’s Department and the Maine State Police weren’t necessary after all. Through Sunday afternoon, the command center had no incidents to report from the Calais side of the border. There was a definite lack of traffic entanglements or backups at the border.

Tourists also were lacking in other places where they could have been expected. Hotel space on both sides of the border was available, and restaurants from Calais to St. Andrews weren’t crowded.

Those on duty at the New Brunswick tourism center in St. Stephen said that they had seen very few St. Croix-destined visitors come through on Saturday.

As recently as a year ago the Ste. Croix 2004 Celebration organizing committee indicated that there could be as many as 90,000 tourists visiting for a “three-nation vacation” that featured French, Canadian and Passamaquoddy participation. Six months ago organizers were talking 40,000 visitors. Earlier this week the expectation was for 10,000 visitors.

Saturday’s rain may have diminished the turnout for day visitors within easy driving of the celebration sites. But the general feeling is that the influx of tourists was not realized at all on the grandest of the 10 days.

“There is awareness of Ste. Croix 2004, but maybe people stayed away because they feared the crowds,” a manager of the Algonquin surmised Sunday morning. “We hope people will still come this summer, with things like the new Downeast Heritage Center [in Calais] to attract them.

“They may not be here this week, but this bit of history remains significant all year long.”