On The Shorefront of Education, Technology and Commerce

Waves of resources are crashing in at our feet in Elk Rapids. Eighty percent of our village perimeter is shorefront.  It’s an edge that inspires us.  How can we not dream of possibilities when gazing at water so much?  How can we not look beyond the horizon and know the vastness of our reach?  The Elk Rapids area is a place of wonder and original thought.   Picture a beautiful jeweled necklace made from beach glass.  That is Elk Rapids.  The Elk Rapids Hydro-Electric Plant clasps Grand Traverse Bay to Elk River, wrapped around the village in a playful strong arm.   From Elk River, we move into Elk Lake and beyond through a spectacular chain of lakes and rivers.

This may not sound much like statement on Elk Rapids economic development but truly it is you see, because economic development is helping people visualize what it would be like to live here and move their enterprise with them.  The water is our mentor in its strength and beauty, our metaphor of living gracefully and our mirror of truth and values.  We are a water town. 

Education is at the heart of our community and an important aspect in supporting the families of entrepreneurs and companies that choose to make Elk Rapids their home. 

In addition to consistently having State of Michigan K-12 “A” rankings, Cherryland Middle School is the lead school in northern Michigan moving forward to provide the world recognized International Baccalaureate program. The Elk Rapids School staff is highly qualified and dedicated to the success of each and every child.

For a village and township as small as they are, Elk Rapids is actually quite progressive and enterprising.  There is a movement underfoot that exists among citizens, businesses and town officials to ready ourselves for avenues of enterprise as fresh as our agriculture. 

Elk Rapids is seated in the heart of agriculture where, an unexpected truth is revealed. 

Farmers are some of the most sophisticated, creative and innovative leaders of technology in product development and marketing today.  They are personally driven to excellence by a local community spirit, worldwide food demand, top-notch agriculture education and research from nearby universities such as Michigan State University, a popular cultural shift towards farmland preservation, and food infrastructure awareness.   Expanded fruit drying operations, new powder derivative technology, and advanced extended-season warehousing, have added new markets and year round product capabilities.  New uses have been found for pits using dryers for conversion to biofuel and landscape fill. These are just a few of the examples of progressive thinking in one industry in the Elk Rapids area.   Many other innovative stories, in diverse industries, have been written in our sandy soil, paving the way for related businesses to follow.

Elk Rapids is home to a medical device company, a contract clothing and outdoor gear company, a silicone manufacturer, a micro-brew and bottling company, two cabinet making businesses and more.  Many sole-proprietor service-related business call Elk Rapids home.  As a tourist town, real estate is one of our main industries.  Now is an excellent time to find a great value in real estate, in addition, downtown provides a very special small town setting for retail and restaurant development.  Our work force is shaped by a high percentage of quality tradesmen, technology consultants and semi-retired professionals. 

There is an interesting mix of citizen efforts here in addition to our commercial development.  HERTHA’s Town Hall Keepers have restored the Historic Town Hall into a vibrant center of activities.  ER-BAM is a grass roots citizens group that is working to create new opportunities for economic success through broadband.  Each of these separate efforts actually works in concert to improve the quality of life in Elk Rapids.  With expanded broadband options such as Wi-Fi the agricultural community can better monitor the environmental conditions resulting in a possible reduction in chemical applications.   Intelligent application of chemicals can help maintain the waterways and reduce production costs.  HERTHA can use technology to provide a technology focus linking an historical asset with our economic future.  Schools can offer new educational opportunities and expand the student base. The ER-BAM effort is a vibrant effort to link the local community with the world and drive a year round economy through this new virtual world.

Beautiful areas attract arts and culture.  The vintage Elk Rapids Cinema has been newly renovated and boasts having the world’s largest black light ceiling.  Six art galleries are now located in Elk Rapids; the outdoor art fair, Art Rapids, is in its fifth year; and three theater companies are performing at the Historic Elk Rapids Town Hall.  Plus, there are a wide variety of restaurants and music opportunities available for a great evening of dining and entertainment.  (Just mentioning, in case you are wondering what to do for fun here.) Read on in our Chamber of Commerce site and you’ll find no shortage of adventurous things to do including many outdoor recreation opportunities.

If you would like more information about locating a business here and what programs are in place to support it, call The Elk Rapids Chamber of Commerce, 231.264.8202