SaubleBeach.ca - Sauble Beach Ontario, Tourism, Travel, Canada, Lake Huron

Beaches, beaches everywhere. Southwestern Ontario, surrounded as it is by Great Lakes, also has no shortage of beaches. Many say they are among the best in the world.

* St. Christopher's Beach, one of three beaches in Goderich, is the town's most peaceful, light on shops and heavy on quiet spots - perfect for reading a book. * Jazz legend Louis Armstrong once performed on the beach in Grand Bend.

* Store owners in Grand Bend say it's not unusual to sell 12,000 sunglasses and 1,200 pair of sandals in the summer.

* Historians say a 1930 Rudy Vallee concert in Grand Bend was a bust for promoters, as most music lovers couldn't afford the steep ticket price - $2.

* Grand Bend's year-round population of 1,000 people swells to about 40,000 in the summer months.

* Between May and September of 2002 police recorded 1,880 incidents in Grand Bend, including liquor infractions, trespassing and general rowdiness. There were a mere 290 the rest of the year.

* In the mid-1970s, Port Elgin was reportedly recognized by National Geographic as having the second-most beautiful sunsets in the world, second only to a city in Africa.

* Port Elgin's perfect for barefoot shoreline walks - the sand stretches uninterrupted for five kilometres.

* Goderich is home to the most active shipping port on the Canadian side of Port Huron.

* The Sunday night sing-along in Kincardine's Dunsmoor Park has for decades been popular with locals and tourists.

* Brewer John Labatt was kidnapped in 1934 while returning to London from his summer home in Bright's Grove. He survived the ordeal but never returned.

* A good bet for a great time on Canada Day is in Sarnia, where as many as 10,000 people gather at the annual ethnic food festival.

* Sarnia's Canatara Beach is a popular spot to watch huge ships - some as big as 365 metres long - pass by on the St. Clair River.

* The picturesque town of Port Dover, right on the cusp of Lake Erie, has gained notoriety as a popular spot for movie shoots, most notably a film featuring Kevin Bacon.

* The Lambton Heritage Museum houses an exhibit detailing more than 100 years of Lake Huron tourism.

* Sauble Beach's sand - known as sugar sand - is compact and perfect for building sand castles.

* Last year, Torontonians voted Sauble Beach the best beach in Ontario.

* For a bird's-eye view of Lake Huron, take a walk up the 26-metre-high Point Clark lighthouse in Kincardine.

* Rob Blake, Jassen Cullimore and Ryan VandenBussche are among the NHLers known to ply the strip along Turkey Point.

* The biggest bars in Turkey Point will sell as many as 600 cases - that's 14,400 bottles - of beer in peak summer weeks.

* For fresh-caught fish, try Port Dover. The Erie Beach Hotel is well known for its pickerel and perch.

* Mackie's in Port Stanley, famous for its fries, goes through 75 45-kg bags of potatoes a week in the summer.

* 1937 NHL MVP Babe Siebert drowned during a family beach trip on Lake Huron in August 1939. Born just north of Woodstock, Siebert was visiting his home town only days before he was to take over as coach of the Montreal Canadiens.

* Though actual sightings were scarce, rumour has long held late, great actor/comedian John Candy enjoyed summers in Bruce County before his death in * The shallow water in Bruce County's Hope Bay is perfect for adventurous kids looking to swim.