St. Joseph City Commissioners have approved an agreement with St. Joseph Today for the organization to take over management of lighthouse tours this summer.
For many years, the tours were operated by the Heritage Museum and Cultural Center, but with the Heritage scaling down operations, the torch has been passed on.
The agreement with St. Joseph Today approved by commissioners this week is the same agreement the city had with the Heritage. It allows St. Joe Today to keep all revenues generated by the tours so it can recoup costs.
Commissioner Tess Ulrey said Monday it takes a lot of people to be able to offer these tours each summer.
“And I do want to stress that a lot of this lighthouse tour labor is really being owned by a very dedicated group of community volunteers,” Ulrey said. “So I think that the structure that we have within this agreement is great. It’s a way for us to give back to St. Joseph Today, too, who is putting a lot of the legwork in. But I definitely want to highlight the fact that those volunteers are just owning this for love of the lighthouse.”
Ulrey said under the arrangement, St. Joseph Today will operate lighthouse tours each Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. It’ll be free for anyone to enter the lighthouse, and $5 to go up to the top.
In 2023, more than 6,900 people took lighthouse tours in St. Joseph, generating about $16,000 in revenue. In 2024, there were more than 7,000 visitors with about $17,800 in sales. The tours this year are expected to start on Saturday, June 7.
