New Marketing Campaign Creatively Promotes Port Huron

When Carol Brooks of the Foundry and The Hallway Entertainment created a website and paid for a billboard with the address "PortHuronisBoring.com," she couldn't have imagined the conversation her actions would spark in the community. 

Within three days of the billboard's installation on Monday, March 3, a post about it on one of the main Port Huron Facebook groups attracted attention, gaining thousands of comments and reactions.

“In a matter of 20 days, we've had over 1,750 messages, which are directly feeding up ‘things to do in Port Huron' to interested inquiries, which is just an incredible amount of reach,” she said in an interview with The Voice.

Brooks explained that her intent was to create a creative way to foster conversation about things to do and experience in Port Huron.

“I'm a Port Huron native, and my whole life, the rhetoric around town has been that Port Huron is boring, a phrase I wholeheartedly disagree with. I mean, how many people get to live on a giant river, several smaller rivers, and a Great Lake complete with gorgeous freshwater beaches?” she asked. “After I landed on the idea for the billboard, I bought porthuronisboring.com domain, set up a quick website, and put my newfound knowledge of AI chatbot programming to work with a tongue-in-cheek website.”

When someone visits porthuronisboring.com, an AI chatbot called Jade explains what's happening in the city and specific things people can do and see there.

Brooks has since added a Facebook page to support her campaign. She said she intends to keep the website live for the future. Port Huron businesses have been contacting her to fund it and provide information about upcoming events and things to do.

Brooks' Foundry is an arts and entertainment center in Port Huron that offers pottery classes, splatter painting, stained glass experiences, and karaoke for private parties. The Hallway Entertainment is St. Clair County's only escape room in downtown Port Huron.