MARQUETTE IS AMERICA’S hottest new tech hub!!!…Okay, let’s slow the roll here. It’s not San Francisco or Boston or even Boulder or Provo. But it is growing…Eleven years after the Innovate Marquette SmartZone was first created, we now have more than 60 tech companies here, from startups to solid, established businesses.
Eleven new tech companies were launched last year, 53 new tech jobs opened up. “We’ve got 14-15 year old kids walking in the doors with ideas,” says Joe Thiel, the CEO of Innovate Marquette. “We’ve got people from senior centers coming in.”
More than $3 million was poured into local tech last year from investors, grants, and loans. We’re trending higher this year.
The tech stars here are Authsnap, Swimsmart Technology, and Syncurrent, but more are on the way. The key is resiliency, and now, unlike five years ago, Marquette’s Smartzone has an established tech ecosystem providing resources, counseling, networking and funding to keep the startups afloat and steer them toward profitability.
A CHANGE AT TV6…Dave Ellis, who started at the station as a sports intern more than 30 years ago, has returned as news director. “This station has been a big influence on me since I was a kid,” Ellis says. “I don’t think there’s a community in the country as close to its TV station as the UP is to TV6.”…Ellis has worked downstate for most of the last three decades in Lansing and at Michigan State, but now at 56, he felt the time was right to come home…So, will the switch from sports to news and weather be difficult? He doesn’t think so; it’s all news, just a different subject matter.
MORE CHANGES AT TV6…Mandy Koskela has left for a big job in Phoenix, so Molly Birch replaces her in the morning alongside John Redfield, while Griffin Weinberg takes over as the 7 pm anchor. Both Birch and Weinberg add gravitas to the TV6 lineup…You’d think all the changes at TV6 in recent years would bother GM Rick Rhoades. He says, No. “The young people who are leaving here are doing it for career advancement,” he explains. “We’re more than happy to help them.”…Marquette is the 181st largest TV market in the nation.
GORGEOUS. THAT’S ONE way to describe the brand new bandshell on Presque Isle…The ribbon-cutting takes place tonight (Thursday) at 7 pm, followed by a city band concert…It cost more than $2 million to rebuild, with virtually all of it coming from donations. It takes the place of the original bandshell which was built back in 1935. “It’s bigger and more accessible for both the performers and the audience,” says Jon Swenson, Marquette’s director of community services “but we wanted to retain the rustic look and feel of a structure nestled into the hillside.” They succeeded…Swenson says the city is hoping the new bandshell will attract not only more concerts but possibly theater and dance productions, as well.
LET ‘EM ROLL…The Marquette City Commission finally came up with the only logical solution to the e-bike dilemma. It voted unanimously to allow all three classes of e-bikes to ride on designated multi-use paths, but not on downtown sidewalks. There had been some consideration to not allowing the faster, throttled bikes on the paths, but ultimately that didn’t make sense…“It was just too difficult for officers to identify the various types of bikes,” says Commissioner Cary Gottlieb, who served on the e-bike task force, “so now it’s just up to them to determine whether a bike is being ridden recklessly…” And to be clear, bikes with motors more than 750 watts are not allowed on the paths.
Gottlieb says the city still needs to make a few, further changes. Namely, more signage on the paths, slow zones, a center line in some places, and a widening of the paths in other places to better accommodate both bikes and pedestrians.
IT’S NOT A crisis, but it’s a problem…One in three staff positions in UP prisons are currently vacant, according to Bridge Michigan. Not enough demand for the jobs. Solution? Increase the pay, which is exactly what the Michigan Department of Corrections has done…Starting pay at five of the six UP prisons has just jumped from $23.45 an hour to $28.24 an hour. That should help…In recent months, some guards have been forced to work multiple 16-hour shifts during the week, which increases burnout and resignations…and the likelihood of assaults behind prison walls.
NEW FOOD COMING to the Ore Dock Brewing Company. Focus Restaurant Concepts, which owns Border Grill and Mama Russo’s and the former Yoop Coop, will start service at the brewery, likely in July. “We’re hiring 15 people right now,” says Nathan Mileski, the renowned executive chef and chief operating officer. “We’re still in the planning stage and figuring out the menu.” Likely, he says, it’ll be a different kind of bar food with healthy options, and a rotating menu. The kitchen, on the first floor, has just been built.
SAD NEWS FOR another brewery. Barrel and Beam, in Marquette Township, has shut its doors after nine years. It was an attractive venue and had gained a loyal following, but increasingly tough economic conditions and family pressures led to the closure…The craft beer industry has actually declined in recent years after explosive growth in the previous decade…Americans are drinking less and young people, in particular, are opting for a healthier lifestyle…Of course, if you stop by the two heavyweight craft breweries in town—the Ore Dock and Blackrocks—you’d think craft beer has never been so popular. But what those two offer, besides beer, is a robust musical and social scene.
DEAD RIVER COFFEE features a new, more open and welcoming look. The wall dividing the front of the shop from the back room came down last week…“We wanted to increase seating and we wanted to open it up,” says David Sargent, Dead River’s roaster. The response so far has understandably been very positive. The coffee shop retains its authentic, slightly funky, unpretentious charm while giving coffee drinkers a little more room to breathe.
“IT’S JUST STUNNING to see that crowds of people will come out to see something when they don’t even know where they’re going.” That’s Marquette history guide Jim Koski trying to figure out why residents and tourists insist on following a self-described history nerd down the streets of the city…His last tour to a “mystery spot” which turned out to be the Lower Harbor, drew more than 150 followers who learned about the indigenous people who once lived here, the founding of Marquette by settlers, and the fishing shacks and sawmills that used to occupy the park before it became one of the crown jewels of the city…Next tour: August 26th, when Koski will lead his band of merry followers on a happy hour tour of Marquette’s bars.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree. ”
― Michael Crichton
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