ESCANABA — Have you ever auditioned for something? It can be a very nerve wracking experience. You open yourself up to judgment and criticism from the rest of the world. You’re competing against others for a place in a show or a band or whatever it is that you want to be a part of, and you have the inescapable certainty that absolutely everyone else is simply better and/or more qualified than you. Then there is the waiting. You audition and for the next few days, you’re on pins and needles. You jump when the phone rings. You check your email with half closed eyes because you’re terrified. In some places there is a thing known as a callboard, which is basically a bulletin board where theatres will post information including cast lists and rehearsal schedules. I remember having such a knot in my stomach every time I walked up to the callboard at NMU’s Forest Roberts Theatre. There’s nothing like the feeling that comes with seeing your name next to the part you wanted. The unfortunate fact is that for every one of those moments where you get what you want, there are probably at least a dozen where you don’t. And it’s hard not to take it personally when you don’t get the call. You feel judged. You feel like you failed. The audition process can be brutal.

Now, at this point, this article is just about halfway done and you maybe thinking “That’s all fine and good, Mark, but what does this have to do with me or Delta County?” Good question.

Over the past two years, Delta County has itself gone through an audition. Two of them actually and if you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that you were a part of the process.

In 2023, the American Queen cruise line decided they were going to give Escanaba a try. They visited us over 30 times that year. After their visits here in 2023, the American Queen cruise line went through some changes as a company and didn’t have ships on the Great Lakes in 2024. That said, Delta County wasn’t without a visitor in 2024. Over the summer, a ship known as the Pearl Mist ended up coming here when they had to divert from a different port.

Those were our auditions. It may not have felt like it, but they were. These cruise lines were giving us a shot to be put on an itinerary with the likes of Chicago and Toronto. We obviously aren’t in the same league as those cities in a lot of categories, but maybe, just maybe, we might be able to offer something to these world weary travelers that they couldn’t get in those places. At least that was the hope.

Our auditions came and went. From our perspective, the cruise ship visits were a success. In almost every measurable way, things went well. Very well actually. But if I had a dollar for every audition that I thought I nailed only to be told “Better luck next time”, I’d could take a few of you out for lunch and a nice lunch it would be at that. So we waited and hoped that they liked what we had done for them.

Then late in 2024, we received a call. We had gotten the part. People loved Delta County, and we were going to be a stop for the newly formed Victory Cruise Line (formerly American Queen). But that wasn’t all the good news we would get. The folks from the Pearl Mist also contacted us and said that their cruisers had told them that Delta County was a great stop and that they wanted to make us a regular port of call in 2025.

Whether you like my metaphor about auditions (Or is it an allegory? Maybe a simile? That stuff has always been confusing to me.) or you want to say that it’s like getting a call for a second date, it doesn’t matter. The point is that literally hundreds of people from around the country and a few dozen from around the world visited our area and told the cruise lines that we were the kind of place that they wanted to go on their vacation. That’s just pretty sweet isn’t it?

So what does this all mean when the rubber hits the road? Or in this case should it be “When the rudder hits the water”? Regardless, the point is that we will once again be having literally thousands of visitors coming to our town this summer and the reason is simple; they visited us once and they want to come back again. Is there really any better compliment than that?

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Mark Cowman is wit the Delta County Chamber of Commerce.