In January, Consumers Energy announced that they could be hosting the “Put Your Town on the Map” opposition. The contest targets to help inspire Lower Peninsula cities and cities to complete initiatives that are beneficial to the community by offering a total of $15,000 to a few exceptional rural municipalities.
Originally beginning with over forty applicants, Senior Public Information Director for Consumers Energy Brian Wheeler said the competition has now come down to 10 finalists — such as Greenville and Stanton.
A consultant from each nominated community is anticipated to wait for the Small Town and Rural Development Conference in Thompsonville on April 17. There, the representative will make a 5-minute pitch as to why their network and task are worthy of a grant. Consumers Energy will then present $7,500 to the triumphing pitch, with $5,000 and $2,500 for the following runners-up.
GREENVILLE
For Greenville, the “Put Your Town at the Map” opposition is a hazard to assist fund a venture that Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Gae Wolfe has been trying to get started for a while now. If awarded a furnish, Wolfe says the budget from Consumers Energy will cross closer to a network three-D artwork contest. What we’d do is fill our (flower) bins with at least 10 portions of a few sort of 3-D art,” she explained. “We’re no longer positive what it’d be, but it’d all be the same object. Local artists should then pay a small fee to reap that piece of art, take it home with them, and beautify it. The decorated artwork might then be added again to the flowerbeds later and displayed for the rest of the season.
At the quit of the summer, perhaps during the Danish Festival, we’ll then have a few kinds of park celebration where we’ll pass eliminate all the paintings, announce the winner, after which keep some silent auction for the art portions wherein all the proceeds will cross toward neighborhood charities,” Wolfe said. Wolfe additionally stated neighborhood corporations or corporations could ideally want to get worried with the contest and financially sponsor character art portions. If Greenville were to win one of the offers, Wolfe hopes to enforce this art contest as soon as this year. “There are so many transferring pieces to this that it’d truly take a complete year to put into effect it ourselves and build the kind of recognition that we’d want,” she said. “Yet, if we show up to win and it gets paid for via this supply, we’ll pass for it proper away and feature this really first-class function for the network.
STANTON
Stanton’s pitch relies closely on the Fred Meijer Heartland trailhead that passes thru the city. Mayor Lori Williams says that if the metropolis has been to win any of the offers, town officers could use it for enhancements to the Fred Meijer Heartland trailhead in Stanton. Along with new motorcycle racks and upgraded signage to sell downtown corporations, Williams’ idea is to construct a permanent motorbike repair station proper on the trailhead. There could be gear linked right to it so that people could hook their motorbike up to restore a flat tire, a chain malfunction, or anything of that nature,” she stated. “There’d be an air pump right on it and the whole lot.
The concept for this motorcycle repair station came to Williams after she did a few studies at the path and found out that there wasn’t some other function much like this in Montcalm County as a long way as she knew.
“It’s something that I just thought might be a genuinely true draw,” she stated. “People are using on the path from Greenville up to Alma, that means they bypass right via Stanton. If we’ve something like this available, it’d with a bit of luck force them to prevent and visit our city.”
Williams says she’s crossing her hands Stanton will win so the metropolis can go through all the planned enhancements. Even if we get 0.33 place, even though, it’d simply nonetheless be sufficient to do the motorbike restore station and improve the motorcycle racks,” she said. “We’ll take something we can get.”
COMMUNITY PRIDE
Regardless of who’s offered a supply and who isn’t, Wheeler says that the whole factor of the “Put Your Town on the Map” opposition promotes motivation within nominated groups. “The concept is truly to get some enthusiasm in the back of these tasks, all of which might be actually cool,” he said. “Even if their projects don’t get selected, optimistically, they could take some momentum from this and pass ahead on them.”
While this is the first 12 months that Consumers Energy has hosted the “Put Your Town on the Map” opposition, the business enterprise, its charitable basis, personnel, and retirees nevertheless raised $18.Five million last year for numerous nonprofit groups in Michigan. Consumers Energy is committed to helping vibrant, thriving communities of all sizes in Michigan,” said Roger Curtis, vice chairman of public affairs for Consumers Energy.
We have worked with small cities for over one hundred thirty years and are excited to help their network improvement. We look ahead to seeing thoughts to create extra excitement across the groups we serve. The different 8 nominees for the “Put Your Town at the Map” opposition encompasses Quincy (Branch County), Port Austin (Huron County), Sparta (Kent County), Groveland Township (Oakland County), Pentwater (Oceana County), Shelby (Oceana County), West Branch (Ogemaw County) and Spring Lake (Ottawa County).
