It's a Way of Life!

Do you think you could live on an Island? Do you have what it takes to be a member of a rural community accessible only by ferry, plane or boat?

Here's a bit of a test to find out if you have the right stuff . . .

Do you flash your Rolex, brag about your car, name drop about who you know, or what blue blood schools your kids attend?

Getting noticed . . . do you dream of a huge house and a garage full of cars designed to impress others? Think you are special, put on earth to be awed, sought after for advice and your presence?

Do you have an ego needing stroking? Have an attitude needing attention? Are you a gold digger? Do you want to live in a gated wealthy snobby community and is your life about money - only money?

Think you were always destined for greatness? You don't strive to keep up with the Jones - that you are the Jones.

Translation - you are NOT built for living on Drummond Island and being part of it's rural, Up North, close-knit community.

Impressing others and having the latest material items is not what living on Drummond is all about. It's about helping others, serving your community, not calling attention to yourself.

Drummond Island, simple, real, honest living.

Outdoor campfires, picnics, paddling a kayak. Snowshoeing the ledges or cross country skiing through a silent glade. 

Folks on Drummond get excited hiking a shoreline trail and seeing three deer drinking from the lake. Enjoying a sunrise on Potagannissing Bay with a mug of hot coffee. A family of loons paddling by. Island people attend and get excited to help out at a church bean supper for a family that was burned out or struggling with cancer.

It is not about who you know . . .  it's not about being exclusive. It's about others. People come for a day, stay a life time. You don't need a lot of money . . . that's not what impresses people in "Vacationland". On Drummond they help others, check on the elderly, coach youth sports. Teach Sunday school.

IT'S A WAY OF LIFE! 

Something Called Community . . .

"Money is like blood. It needs to keep moving around to keep the economy going. When money is spent elsewhere—at big supermarkets, non-locally owned utilities and other services such as on-line retailers—it flows out, like a wound." ~ David Boyle

Here is a list of the top ten reasons why you should both expect that locals use your business and why you should support your fellow businesses. Remember, it is a two-way street! If you expect your neighbor to shop at your retail store, you need to return the favor and use their service.

 

Shopping local boosts the local economy because more of the money you spend in your local independent business stays in the community then if you shopped at a big-box store or out of town. 

Shopping local creates jobs. Small, local businesses are the largest employers nationally. When we support local shops and services, we are supporting the process of creating local jobs. 

Local business support community groups. Local businesses are more likely to support local events, schools, charities and sports groups. When you shop at a local business you are in essence supporting your community.

Shopping local supports the character of Drummond. Drummond’s friendly and authentic small community atmosphere is created by the people and the businesses. Our distinctive shops and services contribute to our quality of life and to the character of Drummond Island. Shopping local keeps these businesses here.

Shopping local increases our tax base. When you support and invest your day-to-day dollar in Drummond business you are contributing to our tax base which improves the services we all benefit from. No local business means higher taxes for everyone.

Local businesses invest in Drummond Island. When we support local business we support the future of our community. Businesses owned by Drummond Island folks are less likely to leave the community and are more invested in our success.

Supporting local business encourages investment. Research is stating entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities, like Drummond, that preserve and support independent and distinctive businesses. 

Local business offers choices. Over the long term, successful local businesses are able to supply products based on local needs, interests and demands rather than based on national sales strategies. 

Shopping local saves services. Private and public services tend to cluster around shops. As retail merchants disappear, so do services such as hairdressers, banks, restaurants, and other businesses. 

Shopping local saves you time and money. By not traveling to out of town shops, you are saving on fuel (money and the environment) and time. By buying local and what you need, rather than all those “deals” on your way to cashier at a big box store, you are saving money and reducing items that will just go to the landfill anyway!

I have inherited a belief in community, the promise that the gathering of kindred spirits can both create and change culture. We don't accomplish anything in this world alone  - whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something good. Something called community.

Shop local, shop local, shop local . . .

Holly Daze has one focus - to inspire you to do your holiday shopping locally by making it easy for you to find fabulous holiday gifts right here on the Island. Supporting local entrepreneurs as well as local artisans in the process.

I have written on this subject several times because it is one I am passionate about. It is one of those catch phrases that we all think we understand - and do. But then we just can’t resist that One Click on the internet. It seems so easy and so cheap. And trust me - I am guilty of late night Surf Shopping too!

But with that click we send money streaming through cyber space out of our community to who knows where. Money that could have helped our neighbors pay their mortgage, our school buy supplies and our community remain robust and intact.

And really, what do we get with that click? Not the Made in Michigan, Made on the Island, gifts featured during Holly Daze. Not the handpicked merchandise featured by our shopkeepers. Not the personal insight of those that know us and the individuals we are shopping for.

And not the connection to the joy of the season found during Holly Daze when our businesses are decked out in their finery, and person-to-person, human good cheer abounds.

Shopping locally is truly one of the best gifts you will give this holiday season - to yourself and to your neighbors.

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. ~William James

Buy Local First!

“We all participate in weaving the social fabric; we should therefore all participate in patching the fabric when it develops holes.” ~Anne C. Weisberg

Two or three years ago – when I started contributing “ditties” to the Drummond Island Digest – my first essay was on the ritual and routine of stocking an Up North pantry. Anyone born and raised in the north (or lucky enough to have a second home Up North) knew all to well the custom I spoke of in that article:

You walk around the house with a pad of paper and pencil, opening all the pantry doors as you jot down the essentials that need to be re-stocked. Then you call your closest friends and relatives to let them know you are “making a run” and get their lists. When the big day comes the kids all vie for “shot-gun” and you head out early in the morning for a day of shopping in the big city.

Let’s face it, retailers and warehouse super stores that can only be found in larger communities make “one-stop shopping” a concept that appeals to all of us. And when these stores can lure us in with lower prices and super sales we feel good about the money we think we are saving. But there is a hidden price . . . and one that can end up drastically altering our own small community.

In these hard economic times by thinking local first we make choices that have dramatic impact on our community, our economy, and our environment. While it will rarely be possible to buy everything we need or use from local independent businesses, I am advocating for people to first think local in order to maximize the impact of daily actions and purchasing decisions. Buy LOCAL First refers to a commitment to our community.

Compared to national competitors, local independent businesses return more money to the local economy and give an average of two to three times greater support to non-profit organizations. They are better positioned to respond to the special needs of the community and more invested in its future. When was the last time you saw Wal-Mart listed in the Digest as a sponsor for the March of Dimes Dance, the Hunter’s Dinner or the Snowmobile Grooming Fund-raiser?

Local, independently owned businesses are the backbone of an economy, the lifeblood of a community. By increasing the number of independent, local-to-local economic transactions, we:

*Support local entrepreneurs

*Sustain family farms and orchards

*Create local jobs that stay in our community

*Have greater control over environmental impacts

*Increase sales and tax receipts to finance schools, police and fire departments, arts, roads, and open spaces

*Maintain a unique sense of place, directly contributing to what will keep our home place alive and special in the long-run

*Maximize the economic multiplier (that means every expenditure of a dollar generates more than a dollar's worth of activity and cascades into a larger number of transactions that enrich the community).

Choosing local over non-local has 2-3 times more financial impact in our community, promotes more reinvestment locally, creates quality jobs, and encourages more donations to local charities and causes.

Several studies have shown that money spent at a locally owned business stays in the local economy and continues to strengthen the economic base of the community. A 2002 case study in Austin, Texas showed that for every $100 in consumer spending at a national bookstore in Austin, Texas the local economic impact was only $13. The same amount spent at locally based bookstores yielded $45, or more than three times the local economic impact. (Civic Economics, Austin Unchained October 2003)

A 2003 case study of Midcoast Maine covering several lines of goods and services validated these findings. In Maine eight locally owned businesses were surveyed. The survey found that the businesses spent 44.6 percent of their revenue within the surrounding two counties. Another 8.7 percent was spent elsewhere in the state of Maine. The four largest components of this local spending were: wages and benefits paid to local employees; goods and services purchased from other local businesses; profits that accrued to local owners and taxes paid to local and state government. All eight businesses banked locally, used local accountants, advertised in local businesses publications, purchased inventory from local manufacturers, and used local Internet service providers and repair people. The study estimated that a big box retailer returns just 14.1 percent of its revenue to the local economy, mostly in the form of payroll. The rest leaves the state, flowing to out-of-state suppliers and back to corporate headquarters. (The Economic Impact of Locally Owned Business vs. Chains: A Case Study in Midcoast Maine - New Rules Project, September 2003.)

We all support and count on doing business with people in our community, but what we don’t take the time to think about is how our community and ultimately our livelihood is affected when 85 percent of each retail dollar we spend at a national chain is sent somewhere out of state. Are we really “saving money” if our community’s retail dollars are not cycling back into our own local economy? Are we really “saving money” if our local merchants have to raise their prices in order to meet their overhead . . . or are forced to close their doors altogether due to lack of revenue? Are we really “saving money” if our local and state governments have to raise taxes or cut back on services that we wind up having to pay for?

I am getting ready to “re-stock” the pantry on Drummond and I know I can get cases of the things I need much “cheaper” down-state. But how much would I really save? Are my retail dollars ensuring that this community I have come to know and love continues to thrive? I, for one, know my quality of life would be greatly diminished if I couldn’t pop into the four corners for a bouquet of flowers, a sheet of plywood and the latest fashion magazine. And the members of this community have been truly blessed by merchants who have had the resources to donate to countless fundraisers.

We are blessed on Drummond with a variety of independent merchants of every kind. We might want to think about the greatest gift we can give both the community and ourselves . . . and the money we can “save” . . . by choosing to shop more in our own community.

“Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and aesthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” -Aldo Leopold

Filling in the Gaps . . .

Drummond Island - like most U.P. towns - is a community that you can feel part of. A place where you can count on your neighbor and where you can walk into the store and you know the people you see and are known by them. On a first name basis.

That doesn't exist everywhere any more. It's dead. It's gone. And this is tragic.

On Drummond you meet people you know at the restuarant, at the post office, every place you go when you are out and about - chatting, forming friendships and bonds. It is face-to-face and all direct. You know everybody's business and they know your's. The good, the bad and the ugly.

And that's the way it should be.

Small towns fill in the gaps in your life that you hadn't known existed.

 The nice part about living in a small town is that when you don't know what you're doing, someone else does.

Gossip by Norman Rockwell

It's Fish Fry Friday!

It is the end of another week. The weekend looms, with its change of pace and flexible ambiance. You’ve grown tired of dispatching quick and efficient evening meals. You don’t have the heart to produce grander fare for a celebration. Hey, it’s Friday night! Time to take a break and go out for fish!

Friday nights on Drummond Island translate to “let’s meet for fish.” You know you can go just about anywhere on a Friday night and find a delicious, reasonably-priced meal of fish. But from my perspective nothing compares to Fish Fry Friday at the Northwood. Especially if Celia is in the kitchen cooking!

Windy and raw, the late, wintry afternoon sinks into dusk. You gratefully seek refuge from the dark and cold, opening the tavern door. Warmth, happy chatter, and the moist aroma of stale beer mixed with frying fish invite you in. The immersion in the familiar excites and soothes. For a moment you wrestle with the anticipation of a cherished meal and fears of a long wait.

Fish Fry Friday is not just a tasty meal, reasonably priced. It is a socially-charged atmosphere where friends, family, and neighbors mingle, exchange stories, share comfort food and drink. All the while partaking of the Island’s famed friendly ambiance. It is an Island event. And it doesn’t matter how long you have been away – on a Friday night sharing stories and eating fish – you are always folded back in to the community.

Woe to unsuspecting Friday travelers arriving at mealtime expecting a fast and easy fish fry! The line may be long, but the wait is part of the festive sequence: strangers break into conversation while friends share camaraderie, sometimes at the bar or over a lively game of pool. Impatience is uncool. Bracketed and bolstered by companionship, the meal will eventually arrive.

When it is over you levitate back home – sated and warmed by food and spirit, the weekend officially opened.

If you head Up North be sure to stop by - the beer is always cold, the fish is always fried to perfection and you won't find a better selection on the juke box anywhere else!

The Northwood Restuarant and Bar

29944 E Channel Rd Drummond Island, MI 49726

906-493-5282

A Community's True Value is Measured by its People and Their Dogs

Chloe' and I walk every day – rain or shine, sleet or snow – there are few things that keep us from the luxury of raising our faces to the weather of the day.

Down state our walks have a very predictable pattern – down the street, up the hill, past Notacat's house hoping for a brief encounter that always ends with Notacat racing up and down his fenced domain. Then it is be on to the Dog Park where Chloe' can lose her leash for a brief but thoroughly enjoyable romp in and out of the trees that make up a wooded green space nestled among the stately old homes of our historic neighborhood. Heading home she walks briskly, eager for a glimpse of a new Border collie that has taken up residence in a house on the hill. An invisible fence keeps the pup confined to her yard ¬ and provides some form of sadistic satisfaction for Chloe' as she runs in and out of Sasha’s personal space, taunting the young collie with her ability to roam at will without the fear of electric shock.

These down state walks provide little, if any, opportunity for getting to know the human residents of our neighborhood. Outside of a hello here or a nod there, few take the initiative for sustained conversation. We are rarely detained, despite the fact that we are always open to taking a risk – open to the possibility of a new great adventure. The sad fact is we more often than not return home with no new stories to share, no new adventures to spin into tales to entertain friends and family.

Walking on Drummond Island is never so predictable ¬ never so “white bread” mundane. Every morning on the Island brings the smell of adventure wafting through the trees – the possibility of new explorations to make us step a little livelier.

We always head out down Somes Road towards the old quarry knowing that each passing car will make room for Chloe' as she roams without being confined to a leash. Clif Haley can be depended on to stop and share a warning about marauding bears. Phil Perry always nods and waves – this despite the annoyance of having to slow to a crawl as Chloe' meanders too near the center of the road. Tom and Sue McCaskill, Roy and Judy Martin, Nancy Kleiner, Joyce Buckley, Carolyn Haley, and all our other neighbors can be counted on for a wave, a smile and sometimes even a friendly honk of their horn. Ross – along with his dog Chardonnay – never miss a chance to invite us down the lane to check out the blooms in his luscious, exotic gardens.

When we first took up residence on Somes I was anxious to start exploring, to meander through the woods and down the shore in anticipation of new adventures and discoveries. When I called Harry Ropp for permission to access his land there was no hesitation in his response – no harsh comments concerning my proposal to be allowed to freely trespass – he readily invited me to wander his woods as I pleased. His generous spirit has provided Chloe' and me the opportunity to have countless encounters with the deer, fox, Pileated woodpeckers and other residents of the wooded limestone cliffs. Our adventures and discoveries include slides down snow covered slopes along with witnessing the first shaky strides of a newborn fawn. We have searched forever for a rack we know must have been dropped by the buck we saw roaming the woods in November.

A similar kind welcome was also echoed by Gert Bailey – but not only did Gert share her beach with its gorgeous views of Potagannissing Bay, she opened up her heart. Each walk since has included a wave or a chat – our conversations encompassing everything from the day's weather to our own personal struggles with health issues.

Eventually we make our way to the office at Yacht Haven where Connor has set up a canine oasis. My walks use to simply involve circling out past the flag pole and then down the docks, up pass the boat houses on our way back to the woods. I might have waved and said a “Hello!” as we past by – but I never spent much time on that leg of our walk until Chloe' learned about Connor's stash of treats.

Chloe' soon trained me to stop at the Yacht Haven office on every walk. Actually, she doesn't always wait for me. She has learned, following the lead of other great marina dogs - Sophie, Cole, Owen, Katie and Finnegan – how to nose open the screen door and search for Connor in anticipation of a dog biscuit or two. Connor is the marina's “dog whisperer”. When I am at Yacht Haven and can't find Chloe' I know that she has headed to the office to get a treat – and to give me a chance to stop and chitchat for a while.

These walks through the Somes Road neighborhood are a joy. And the tales they inspire are as rich and vibrant as the tapestry of the woods we hike, the water whose shores we meander and the members of the community we encounter along the way. It doesn't matter how long Chloe' and I are away from the Island. We know that when we return we will be folded back in – made to feel welcome and part of the Somes Road neighborhood. The people and dogs of this little corner of Drummond Island have made it a good place to live.

A neighborhood is not defined just by the style of the homes that line the streets or their prices. A neighborhood's real value comes from the people who live there and how they help one another, swap stories, and take the time to share a dog biscuit and become friends. Millard Fuller once said, “For a community to be whole and healthy, it must be based on people’s love and concern for each other.”

Drummond’s Somes Road community can take pride in being truly whole and healthy as evidenced by its people ¬ and their dogs!

Waving, Community and the Impact on a Young Girl

People wave on Drummond Island. Everyone that has ever visited us always remarks on this little idiosyncrasy of the community. And they never fail to mention that most do it with personal style – there are the full handed wavers, the one fingered steering wheel lifters, the nodders and the saluters – to name but a few. And we can all pick out the first-timers to the Island – they would be the ones not waving. Otherwise known as the “no-waving bastards”.

When two of my granddaughters stayed on the Island with me one summer, this little gesture of “community” made a big impression on them. The oldest at the time, Meagan, thought it was just great that everyone on the Island knew her grandma – why else would they be waving. I didn’t have the heart to tell her otherwise!

Webster defines community as a group of individuals who share a common interest. On Drummond Island that common interest is the “connectedness” that comes from being a member of a small, close-knit, northern, rural community. Hard to explain to a flatlander who hasn’t shared in the experience as they grew up. And we – meaning the collective Island community – use this simple gesture of waving to signal to each other that we belong to this community. And when it happens, when you are part of the exchange of a quick flash of a “personalized” wave, the feeling of connectedness and community is unmistakable.

At the end of her 10 day visit, when we were watching the sun set on Potagannissing Bay, Meagan asked “Grandma, can we move here just you and me? Everyone else can come visit us here.” There is no better tribute to the Island and its strong sense of community then that – the statement made by an eleven year old girl who was made to feel as though she “belonged”.

William James once said a community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. I am so glad the members of this community are all impulsive enough to wave each time they pass a fellow Islander and “community” member – even the ones they don’t know by name and who are simply visiting!

So here’s to community, connectedness and being impulsive the next time you pass someone on the road – wave on!