Seedums Garden Club and Citizens National Bank provide the funding to adorn our Downtown with forty beautiful hanging flower baskets.  There are tentative plans for the baskets to be hung during the week of Memorial Day Weekend.  Those colorful petunia baskets really brighten the Downtown district with the white, red, and three different shades of pink!  Soon after the flowers are placed on the hangers, we will notice other businesses sprucing up their storefronts and adding plants and flowers.

I have to thank all of the parties involved in providing a punch of color to our Downtown district.  On a few days throughout the summer, some mornings I find myself Downtown in the early hours and I see the City Recreation Department’s watering truck tending to the flowers.  The diligence of the City’s Rec department helps maintain this investment that Seedums and CNB have so generously donated to help make our Downtown so pretty.

 While we are talking about flowers and gardens, I cannot forget about the Chamber of Commerce’s Beautification Committee. If it were not for this committee and the Seedums group, the community gardens throughout the City would not be nearly as beautiful.  I drove through town last weekend and I noticed a handful of volunteers working on the garden along Main Street in front of the Lincoln Plaza.  We are so fortunate to have committed and knowledgeable volunteers who plant and weed the community gardens.  Hats off to you Volunteers!

This week marks the start of the baseball and softball games for the Cheboygan Little League. A once quiet Major City Park is now hustling and bustling with over 300 tee ball, baseball, and softball players. You know summer is not long away when the teams invade Major City Park!

I have been at the ball fields every day this week. My son happens to be on one of the major league teams so we have practice almost daily. Those kids love to get out on the field and work on honing their ball playing skills. As I sit and watch the kids hit, field, and run, I find myself putting on my Downtown Enhancement hat. We are so lucky to have these ball fields so close to Downtown. Throughout the week, you will have all 300-plus ballplayers in Major City Park – just a stone’s throw away from Downtown. The Downtown businesses are open and ready to serve the kids, their parents and all of the cheerleaders.

Of course I can’t talk about Downtown Cheboygan and Major City Park without mentioning the link between the two: the Downtown Footbridge. This footbridge has been quite the popular attraction with the parents and kids alike at the fields. Every night, I walk across the footbridge and I take a stroll throughout Downtown. I see parents and kids walking over the bridge from Washington Park to the ball fields, heading out to get ice cream or grabbing a bite to eat. As I cross the bridge, I notice groups setting up their fishing lines in their quest to nab that evening’s dinner.

I want to make a plea to the ball players and their parents… please get into the habit of using the bridge. This was constructed so you could easily get across the river. Make plans after the games to grab a snack or even dinner. Soon the Chamber of Commerce will begin their Summer Concert Series. The footbridge will be an easy access to all of the activities in Washington Park. Ball season begins in May and runs through July so it is safe to assume that we will see visting teams from neighboring cities travel to Cheboygan. Please let those teams know about our new structure so they can enjoy Downtown too. These teams will most likely be looking for places to eat and shop before and after their games, which could be a giant boost to our local economy.

The Downtown Development Authority (DDA) is planning a Grand Opening Celebration for the Downtown Footbridge on Saturday, May 22 from 11:00 a.m to 2:00 pm. There will be food, music, an inflatable bounce house and I know many teams will be playing games that day. This is a great opportuntiy for ball players and their parents to celebrate the bridge and it is also a great time for others unfamiliar with baseball and softball to experience a game. If you haven’t had a chance to check out a Little League game in action, make plans to do so. These kids are so talented and they play full of heart.

The 2nd Annual Cheboygan Spiff Up Day has been scheduled for Saturday, May 1st from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. All volunteers are to meet in the parking lot of the Cheboygan Opera House, at which time garbage bags donated by J & N Disposal will be distributed. Volunteers will then be dispersed to specific areas and asked to rid the City of all litter. If you know of an area that needs attention, please call Councilman Roger Kopernik at (231) 420-3805 so he can coordinate clean up efforts.

This event was new last year and what an accomplishment for the volunteers involved. I enlisted my children and even some kids from our neighborhood so everyone could get involved in the fun. It is so important to teach our children what it means to give back to our community through volunteerism and to take pride in where we live. I recommend that every volunteer bring another person with them. We need a team of volunteers to achieve the task of cleaning up Cheboygan, so please ask your friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members to help make Cheboygan beautiful!

Every community has something that draws people to visit. We have the lakes, Cheboygan River, community trails, several parks, a Downtown; all things that draw visitors to our beautiful community. Cheboygan isn’t any different from any other community in that we need to spruce up our town after a long winter. Please help us beautify a community that we are all so fortunate to call our home and volunteer on May 1st. Before long we will see the hanging baskets taking their rightful place on the lamp posts and summer is going to be here. Let’s enjoy this beautiful weather, spruce up our community and get ready for summer!

Spring weather is awesome!  The sun shines into my office at City Hall and what a refreshing change. I love the Winter season, but when Spring arrives, it’s like an awakening. That is why living in Michigan is so wonderful… we get to experience the four seasons.

I’ve had a hard time getting my kids to come inside at night.  From the minute they get home from school, they are outside running around until night falls.  This weather is a definite boost to everyone’s mood.

When Spring rolls around, the first thing I think of is Spring cleaning.  At home we rake the yard, prep the flower beds, wash the walls and windows to gear up for the season.  Now is the time to spiff up our homes and also the Downtown area.  I’ve noticed businesses getting their storefront windows washed and business owners out sweeping in front of their buildings. Spring cleaning isn’t intended for only our houses; businesses need a spruce up every so often too.

The Cheboygan Downtown Development Authority recently purchased a Billy Goat commercial litter vacuum. This vacuum is operated by employees from the Parks & Recreation department and is used to clean the sidewalks and gutters in the Downtown district. You will see the employees cleaning the sidewalks every Monday and Friday to help spruce up the Downtown district.

People are taking notice of the Billy Goat. Employees who operate the new vacuum tell me that citizens periodically stop them to tell how happy they are with the efforts the City is making toward keeping a clean Downtown.

Before long we will see the hanging baskets taking their rightful place on the lamp posts and summer is going to be here. Let’s enjoy this beautiful weather, spruce up our homes and businesses and get ready for the summer!

I had the opportunity to judge some fantastic business projects at the Cheboygan High School (CHS). Select students from Brent Richard’s marketing and business classes were gearing up for the State DECA competition in Dearborn.   The DECA program helps students to develop skills for successful business careers, build self–esteem, experience leadership and practice community service.

I have to tell you, these students are fabulous. They have worked very hard all year to develop their business plan, research the feasability of the business venture, and develop the business.

As I sit and listen to the students’ presentations, I can’t help wearing my Downtown Cheboygan hat. There always seems to be at least one student who has his or her eyes set on Downtown Cheboygan as the potential location for their business. After their presentations, I remark that these “make believe” businesses could actually work in Downtown Cheboygan.
The following two students are examples of businesses that would fit in the Downtown Cheboygan community:

Ben Slater is a junior at CHS and he presented a plan for a gaming store. This seems like a perfect fit for Downtown Cheboygan – especially because Ben was planning on placing the store near the movie theatre and comic book store. Genius! The product that he wants to sell actually fits in with the neighboring businesses so they can cross sell to one another. What a great idea.

Tyson Eustice is a senior and his entrepreneurship endeavor included building a Hockey/Sports Store. Tyson has many years under his belt as a hockey player so his practical knowledge of the sport helped him with his planning. He knew how many skates, hockey sticks, helmets, and pads he had to sell to make this business viable. It begs the question, why isn’t there a store like this in Cheboygan? We have the ice pavilion which houses six months of hockey and ice skating events, not to mention the various hockey tournaments. The pavilion is used regularly during the fall and winter months. Now there is a plan to build an outdoor ice rink in the Woolworth building location. It seems as though now is the time to develop a business like this.

Hats off to all of the Cheboygan High School DECA students!  You are our future!