This is a town unlike other towns. It is an underutilized location that has recently started the process of realigning to the global market. It is attracting paper mill investments, retail stores, small business, vacationers, and travelers. You can see the movement in the background and how that will likely start leading to overt signs of growth. These things take time and those companies that get into "the market" early also have a first in advantage through community relationship building (I have business that I am thinking of expanding at some point. If I had an design and engineering business I would consider the attractive outdoor lifestyle and the ability to create prototypes. Lots of open space.)
(*fyi did you know the name Butterfield means "open field". Sorry sort of an inside joke on lineage lines in the area. P.S. in the literary arts it is multiple running themes within the same work. Keep that in mind if you keep reading the blog. Its not just science and serious stuff. There is some fun with it....a learning experience. *)
There is a couple of things this town has going for it beyond its location. First, it has a strong Escanaba City Council (From what I saw of Gladstone they are also forward thinking) and a new County Commissioner Committee (I'm just sort of getting familiar with them because its a new seated Committee i.e. rearranged). Furthermore, there is growing state and local interest in maximizing opportunities in alignment with other changes in the national and global market.
The people are awesome (Ok...almost everyone is awesome. 🤣)! and a tight knit community that worked together to attract and approve potentially a billion dollar wood products investment and they are willing to work with you as well. As an additional bonus, we have the Hannahville Tribe with a great workforce and a nice casino just a few miles down the road. We also have a local college that can train workers for modern problems 🙊. (This is the forming of the basics of a resilient, economic cluster, that can shift with market changes. i.e. one area goes down and other will be a hedge up. The best case scenario would be to attract businesses that help to develop off each other through economic innovative synergy but also can hedge shared knowledge bases during bad times. At least in economic design theory.)
...sorry....every since I was a kid I used go down these rabbit holes of logic. For the most part if I mumble something just ignore me (I'm used to it. 🤷) until I tug your sleeve and tell you its probably important. tug tug. A few resources....Visit Escanaba, Escanaba City, Gladstone City, Delta County Chamber.
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