It appears fewer Americans are venturing into Essex County to celebrate Independence Day.
The impact is being felt by the local tourism trade.
Campground management says Jellystone Park in Amherstburg is spending the U.S. July 4th holiday without any Americans at all.
"They used to come all the time," says manager Bonnie Jackson.
It's much of the same at other Essex County American tourist hot spots, where proud red white and blue visitors used to be a guarantee on July 4.
“Today compared to ten years ago, we have three this summer and we have 150 wells. Normally we would have half of them with Americans,” says Marlene Tann, owner of Westport Marina in LaSalle.
Tann says proper paperwork is what keeps most Americans stateside during their holiday seasons.
"If you talk to most Americans, their problem is going back across the border to the United States,” says Tann. “It isn't worth the hassle and a lot of them don't have passports, which is amazing."
The few Americans who did make it to Canada Thursday agree.
“It's a lot harder these days getting over the border with the new licences and restrictions," says Michigan resident Mike Tecmire.
Tecmire lives 12 minutes away from the border in Michigan. He and his family came to Canada to enjoy the finer things that those in the U.S. can't always find.
"We're here at Duffy's to eat some great food here and going to have some good Canadian beers," he says.
Jellystone Park management says they hope a small handful of Americans will still come to book up a few of the 316 available sites, even though the glory days with old glory seem to be a memory of the past.
Both the marina and campground say on long weekends they're typically packed to capacity, but that seems to only apply on Canadian long weekends.
