Bon Soo’s revival year had ‘unprecedented’ results: organizers

The 60th edition of Bon Soo’s Winter Carnival may have come to an end Saturday night, but organizers are saying the success of this year’s event has sparked a new and exciting age for future festivals to come.

“We were so caught off guard with the community embracing us so strongly this year,” says Josh Ingram, Bon Soo organizer and special events coordinator with the city. “We sold thousands of more buttons than expected.”

While the final numbers haven’t been confirmed, Ingram estimates over 9,000 buttons and passes were sold during the carnival’s nine-day spectacular.

The festival actually sold out of its buttons and tickets altogether by the final day, so attendees paid their way into the event with generous donations.

“It was unprecedented for Bon Soo, at least in the last 10 to 15 years,” he says.

With more activities, volunteers, and sponsorships than in years past, Ingram is hopeful to not only continue building that momentum into next year but into the next few weeks as well.

“In my capacity and Tourism Sault Ste. Marie’s capacity, we have an agreement to be with Bon Soo for the foreseeable future,” he says. “We want to continue to get real leadership in place now that our president Jeany White is leaving.”

“Our goal in the next 90 days is to re-establish a full board complement of nine or eleven board members, whether it be returning members or brand-new faces. That’s the immediate goal with Bon Soo right now.”

Ingram explains Bon Soo numbers had been on the decline for several years leading up to the 60th festivities.

Now that it’s back to a level they’re happy with, Ingram says they can begin shifting their focus to tourism.

“Now that we have our community buy-in, we can start advertising this as a Sault Ste. Marie winter tourism product next year,” he says. “The real goal this year was to play trial and error with the programming, see what floats to the top and what sunk, and start getting the program ready for next year early and then start looking into tourism.”

Old photographs depicting nostalgic favourites from Bon Soo during the ‘90s, like the Fantasy Kingdom and the Roberta Bondar space shuttle snow sculpture, have been circulating on social media over the last several days.

Ingram says he would love to see the carnival revive some of those classics, but significant changes in the environment over the years have made it challenging to go all in.

“I don’t think we’ll ever see the Fantasy Kingdom the way that it was,” he says. “It’s because our environment is changing so drastically. In the last nine days here, we had frost advisory warnings in the opening ceremonies, and on Wednesday and Thursday, we were plus five degrees.”

“We want to make sure we’re investing in activities that won’t be closed on a warm year for over 50 per cent of the carnival.”

Bon Soo organizers are hoping to have more snow sculptures next year, but they want to stay environmentally conscious and remain realistic about the weather conditions.

Meanwhile, Ingram says he was really pleased with some of their new events, including the Polar Rush obstacle course, their collaboration with the Soo Greyhounds, and the 19+ zone at Northern Superior – all initiatives they intend to bring back bigger and better next year.

But the carnival favourite Polar Bear Dip highlighted Ingram’s positive assessment of the past week.

“The Polar Bear Dip move to the Bushplane was extremely successful and was met with a lot of positivity,” he says. “The idea that people could get a Bon Soo beer and spectate while people were jumping in, and the fact people could get in and get warm and listen to the Hustle Brothers playing was fantastic.”

“We really wanted to take that event and make it a marquee at the end of Bon Soo, just as much as the opening ceremonies, and it worked exactly like we wanted it to.”

“We had a really good 60th for sure. The last day was as strong as the first day.”

Ingram says next year’s Bon Soo will be transitioning to a more digital-friendly event, allowing attendees to purchase buttons both online and in person with debit and credit.

Grateful for the support, Ingram says he’s already looking forward to 2024.

“Every bit helps, whether you can do two hours or five hours of volunteering, whether you can sponsor, or whether you’re just supporting the carnival by attending,” he says. “It takes all of those components, and I’m just so grateful for every angle that participated.”