Eddie Suriano is stepping down from her role as marketing and events manager for the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre.
“It’s time to let younger people take over new ideas. It’s time. I decided a couple of weeks ago,” Suriano told SooToday on Friday. Her last day on the job before she retires from the Bushplane Museum is Saturday July 9. “It’s been a great 12 years,” said Suriano, who has worked as the Bushplane Museum’s key employee since June 2010. “When I was hired 12 years ago, the Bushplane Museum was not doing well. We were always worried that we would have to close our doors. Those were very scary times then.” Suriano put her creative mind to work and started many events and fundraisers for the Center. “Things just started happening. When you provide good service to your guests, it makes a big difference. I am proud of what I have achieved in these 12 years.” One of the events Suriano helped start for the Bushplane Museum is the annual holiday gift and craft show. “It will be nine years this year. It took over as our biggest fundraiser. It brought in a significant amount of money every year for us. We supported all the small vendors by doing the show and were proud of it, helping small businesses as well as ourselves. Being Christmas, the Sault Ste. Marie’s people have always been so generous because they came through a donation. It’s a big, big success for the Bushplane Museum and it’s so widely recognized now.” “We pretty much have to expand the Bushplane to get everyone in here or take the planes out, but I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said with a laugh. Another event Suriano helped take off is the Bushplane Museum’s annual Family Day event. “The year we started it we had 632 people. They had a great time and the next year we did it again. This was successful and again we got 632 people. My goal the third year was to get 700 and I got to 703. I’m a “goal” person and the fourth year we had 1,500 come. Everyone knew it was a great event, low cost, so they could come and have a really good time if they weren’t skiing. This is one of the big ones that have been developed over the years. People are looking forward to it.” This year’s Family Day activities included games, crafts, the Entomica Insectarium, free giveaways, a scavenger hunt, homemade crafts and a Soo Dan Hap Ki Do demonstration. Suriano has also arranged for weddings at the Center, from two or three a year to more than 20. Other events such as The Festival of Beer, The Zombie Walk and Algoma Festival Choir performances have also become annual favorites at the Bushplane Museum under Suriano’s watch. “People are happy here and come back. It’s a great place to be. The Bushplane Museum is an awesome place. It has become a real gathering place and that’s what we want.” In June, Suriano was recognized for her outstanding service to the community with the Ted Brooks Memorial Award, presented at the Water Tower Inn Big Cup Scramble Golf Tournament for the United Way. Although she is retiring from the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre, Suriano is an active person and hopes to try her hand at a similar type of employment elsewhere in the Sault. “I think there could be something out there that could use my expertise, something to do with customers and dealing with people. I am a man of the people. Staying at home is definitely not me. Even when we were closed for COVID, I did a lot of walking.” Prior to working at the Bushplane Museum, Suriano was a familiar face to Sault shoppers as a department manager at Sears in Station Mall, beginning her career there in 1973. “Those people who worked with me in the store, we have a lot of great memories. It was a great place to work.” Suriano was planning a Sears employee meeting to be held at the Bushplane Museum in 2020, but COVID derailed that plan. He still hopes to hold a reunion for former Sears associates in the future. After three decades he retired from Sears, where he also led the department store’s employees by contributing to various charities and teaching a self-esteem class for young people. Suriano was informed of the need for an events manager at the Bushplane Museum. He was interviewed and asked if he could start the next day. “I am very proud of what I have done over the years. Anything I can do in the community, if I could help someone, that was me and that’s what I still am.”