Dear Senator Schmidt, We were delighted to see the introduction of your Convention and Visitor Bureau (CVB) package of bills, Senate Bills 703-707. While we have been working with you on solutions to diversify our economy in rural northern Michigan, tourism remains a top economic driver, and CVBs lead the way in marketing our area…
An active month of December helped Venture North Funding and Development surpass the $1 million mark in 2017 for business lending across Northwest Michigan. Venture North in December closed on loans with three area businesses that totaled more than a half-million dollars, including business expansion funds created through Venture North’s recent $1 million partnership with…
December is a month of change for the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce, as the organization welcomes new leadership on its Board of Directors while also thanking the outgoing directors for their contributions to the organization. Among those changes is a new Chamber Board President, as 2017 Board Chair Bonnie Alfonso of Alfie Logo…
A community leader and visionary whose public and personal endeavors have made a significant economic and social impact on the local, regional and state-wide level is being honored with the 2017 Distinguished Service Award from the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce. Elaine C. Wood, who will retire on Dec. 31 as the Chief Executive…
Valarie Handy has been selected as the incoming Chair of the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals program for 2018 and 2019. “I am ecstatic to take on this increased level of leadership and responsibility within a program that I have been dedicated to for nearly a decade,” said Handy. “The TCYP program…
by Kent Wood Recently, House Bill 5099 was introduced by State Rep. Michele Hoitenga (R – Manton) that would have had immediate and potentially negative consequences for efforts in northern Michigan to grow a network of high speed internet service infrastructure. HB 5099 as written would prohibit local units of government from providing qualified internet…
Jill May is a familiar face to many at TraverseCONNECT, having joined the staff of Venture North staff a year ago as a Development Consultant working with Venture North partners in growing the organization’s available lending capital, doing marketing and outreach and leading Venture North’s effort to become federally certified as a Community Development Financial…
The phrase “small town character” continues to work its way into the vernacular of public discourse in the Traverse City area. It’s a curious if somewhat effective way of shaping the region’s ongoing development debate. After all, who doesn’t embrace the idea of a quaint, safe, quiet and caring community to describe the place called…
An online forum highlighting candidates in the upcoming Traverse City commission election is available through the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber launched its latest version of its Virtual Candidates Forum in advance of the City Commission election in Traverse City coming up November 7. The Virtual Candidates Forum is available on the…
It started with the humblest of beginnings – an old card table set up outside of the farmhouse just east of Acme, filled with dark, sweet cherries picked from an orchard just up the road. It was 1960 when Verna Hoxsie first set up the tiny stand along M-72 on the land farmed with her…