Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
IRONWOOD RECOGNIZED Lindquist Electric as their business of the year Wednesday at the joint awards ceremony held at the VFW Post 3673 in Bessemer. Marie Lindquist accepted the award for the business and discussed the effort her family has undertaken over the past fifty years to grow and build the business, starting in Hurley before settling in their current location.
By IAN MINIELLY
Bessemer - The Ironwood and Bessemer Chambers of Commerce came together for a united awards ceremony for local volunteers, businesses, organizations, and people that make a difference and matter at the Bessemer VFW Post 3673. Michael Meyer, Executive Director for Ironwood's chamber and Kathy Whitburn, President for Bessemer's chamber acted as hosts and presenters to the assembled crowd.
Following a catered meal by the Pit Stop in Bessemer, Jerald Wuorenmaa, Executive Director of the Western U.P. Planning and Development Region, spoke to the huddled mass regarding the efforts of the WUPPDR to bring the chambers of the area together for greater collaboration and intelligent use of resources.
The WUPPDR seeks to foster stable and diversified economy's in the western UP through a number of measures.
-A Regional Prosperity Initiative that began in 2014 seeks to remove redundancies and fill gaps between markets in the areas cities.
-Improve communication and collaboration between area chambers
-Better align service areas between Chambers, and
-Create Prosperity Regions to facilitate access to programs and simplify the process
The WUPPDR helps the different chambers develop an identity they can build around. Part of this is accomplished through the awarding of grants for improved signage for important land marks, improved parks, utilizing live music, and assisting local farmers markets.
To further highlight how the WUPPDR is impacting the chambers it services, Wuorenma discussed two types of Target Market Analysis the offer. They provide feedback on residential markets to identify different lifestyle clusters and retail analysis because the Western UP has 11 communities in 6 markets and everyone is seeking the same people and the same pockets full of money. WUPPDR analysis seeks to show where a market is missing potential or where a service is already being provided and another would just duplicate that service and weaken both.
Wuorenmaa was a real surprise and wealth of information as a prelude to the local awards that brought everyone together.
-Volunteer of the Year: Bessemer-Grace Maki; Ironwood-Peter Sturkol
-Organization of the Year: Ironwood-DOVE, Inc; Bessemer-Range Master Gardeners
-Business of the Year: Bessemer-Stempiar BP; Ironwood-Lindquist Electric
-Rising Star Award: Bessemer Only-Dustin Filippini and 906 Web Studios
-Gus Swanson Award:Ironwood Only-The Watchdogs or Dads of Great Students
