Blue Water Area Transit has a new bluegrass jingle that promotes the Sail In Café & Convenience Store in the agency’s downtown bus transfer center. The new tune is BWAT’s second original jingle by Whistle Stop Revue.
Sail In opened in July 2016, one year after BWAT introduced its first jingle by the local bluegrass band. “Now it’s time to spread the word about how our passengers and others enjoy using this great downtown resource,” said Jim Wilson, BWAT general manager.
The café and store offers a selection of meal and snack items, such as nachos, hot dogs, sandwiches, frozen yogurt, cappuccino, slushies and smoothies. It also sells groceries and toiletries, including such convenience items as milk, eggs and bread.
"We want our community to know that our transfer center is more than just a place to catch a bus,” said Linda Bruckner, Blue Water Area Transportation Commission Board chair and Fort Gratiot Township trustee. “People can stop by to purchase quick and healthy snacks, as well as convenience items.”
Whistle Stop Revue is a progressive bluegrass Americana band known for its unique and eclectic style that fuses elements of bluegrass, blues, rock, country and jazz. Formed in 2012 and based in Port Huron, the band includes Rick Doviak (guitar, vocals), Drake Lolley (banjo, guitar, vocals) and Jesse Manns (mandolin, rhythm, vocals).
“We’ve added some blues chords to our regular bluegrass sound to give the jingle a little western swing flavor,” said Doviak. “Some of us have used public transit at different times and I’m happy to be associated with such a great service.”
The band has been touring regionally throughout Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Illinois, playing over 350 shows at notable events, festivals and brewpubs since the spring of 2012.
“We decided to use these talented local musicians to promote our services because their sound is very memorable and entertaining,” Wilson explained. “I’ve been a fan of western swing music since the first time I heard Bob Wills
The new jingle was produced locally by Big Mission Studios in the Detroit suburb of Lincoln Park.
Sail In is owned and operated by St. Clair County Community Mental Health, which provides mental health services to individuals in St. Clair County. The local agency uses the operation as a training center for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and/or mental illness who want to gain employment skills in the food service and retail service industries. Individuals learn skills in such areas as safe food handling, customer service, cashier operation and inventory.
“Sail In fills a recognized need in an area that has been designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a ‘food desert,’” said Debra Johnson, SCCCMH executive director. “This designation indicates that affordable and healthy food is hard to obtain in the area.”
Blue Water Area Transit has just finished celebrating its 40th anniversary, as well as the sesquicentennial of public transportation service in the Blue Water Area.
William Pitt Edison (older brother of the celebrated inventor Thomas Edison) started the local tradition of innovation 150 years ago. He operated horse-drawn trolleys on several routes as the Port Huron & Gratiot Street Railway Company.
