Despite strong winds and heavy snow squalls Tuesday evening, nearly two dozen people attended the launch of SaultVenirs: Selected Throwback Thursday Posts collected and edited by Bernie Arbic and Collette Coullard.
It was held at the Bayliss Public Library.
A little history now between Arbic and Coullard that leads us up to their current book.
In 1978, Arbic and Coullard were at, then Lake Superior State College, when they met. Arbic was a professor and Collard was a student.
Over the years, they became close friends with a common interest in Sault Ste. Marie history.
When Coullard retired, she expressed interest in the Chippewa County Historical Society. She started volunteering and found out she really enjoyed working with the people and working on the computer.
That is where Arbic stepped in as he was already well-established in the historical society.
"I call myself the 'photo guy' down there at the historical society. She also loves working on the old photographs and I saw potential with her. My horizon is fairly limited and you know, you have to groom your replacement. She is learning to scan and use Photoshop more. She will be the next 'photo guy'," Arbic chuckled.
In May 2023, Arbic and Coullard came together with this idea to create SaultVenirs.
"It kind of fell in our lap. For all these years, we have been writing and posting captions and then realized that it would not be much work to turn this into a book," added Arbic.
There were questions, and doubts, on whether SaultVenirs would be for sale by Christmas because of some glitches by the publisher.
But it all worked out and Arbic is excited about getting the book out with time to spare for the holidays.
Arbic says he has written seven publications with five that are books and the other two booklets.
"My favorite is my first book, Sugar Island Sampler because I also thought it would be my last book," Arbic said.
Coullard has nothing but praise for the work Arbic has done.
"He is really the keeper of the photograph collection at the historical society and I am the apprentice. And now he is showing me the ropes and have been working a lot together on the collection," said Coullard.
Coullard said it's been a lot of fun working with Arbic.
"Once we had it organized so we could access each picture and the posts, it went really smoothly. We met a few times a week and had a really good time together reading the reader comments and looking at the photos," added Coullard.
Now the question is, when will someone write a book about Arbic who has written so much about the Sault Ste. Marie area.
"Oh, good question. We should write something, or ask him to write his memoir. I think his memoir should come before the second SaultVenirs," grinned Coullard.
Arbic and Coullard took the time to autograph several books and answer questions at the event.
