http://ipraudio.interlochen.org/M168_Elberta.mp3
With state budget crisis there's been a lot of talk about road projects in Northern Michigan that are not getting done. But the mile-long state highway that runs along the west shore of Betsie Bay, in the Village of Elberta, is getting an overhaul.
M-168 was once an industrial thoroughfare in Benzie County. It's being transformed into a quaint village street. And the change is about more than a street redo, it's about the makeover of a small town.
What Once Was
70-year-old Tom Baldwin says 40-50 years ago, the Village of Elberta looked nothing like it does today.
"There was boats and railroads and the whole thing," he says. "They were booming - all of them - Frankfort, Elberta, Thompsonville."
Elberta was an industry town, with logging and asphalt, and a car ferry running over to Wisconsin.
Then the last recession hit. In the late 1970s and early 80s, industry in Elberta basically disappeared. It left as a remnant a well-worn highway that once carried a lot of truck traffic, and a village of almost 500 people. Many in the village these days feel like their town is constantly sitting in Frankfort's shadow.
Now Tom is convinced the key to Elberta's next big boom is not trucks, but tourists, traveling M-22 on the Lake Michigan coast from Frankfort to Arcadia.
"I don't care what it is, but you have to do something to make them want to be here," he says. "If not, they're going to drive right on through."
A Town With A Confused Identity
Tom is having a late afternoon beer at a local bar-and-restaurant, called The Cabbage Shed. Becky Clapp is the manager. Her parents own the place, and she grew up living in this very building - above the restaurant overlooking Betsie Bay. She's 30 years old. Born during the last recession, she grew up in a small town with an identity crisis.
But there's a real pride here, too.
"I mean you cannot beat the beach," she says, sitting at the bar. "It's a little gold-mine town that's just waiting to pop. And we appreciate that, and a lot of people do. They might not live here year-round, but a lot of people do appreciate that, and, you know, that's what's going to keep us going."
Her friend, Heather Frary, agrees: "Definitely the best beach around anywhere."
Becky laughs: "And you have to drive by both the Mayfair and the Cabbage Shed to get there. That is a good thing."
Rough Summer, Brighter Future
Heather runs the Mairfair Tavern & Pub, just down the street. She says she's not sure her business even notices the recession we're in today, because Elberta never recovered from the last one.
"I mean, it's really hard to judge the economy when you're in Elberta, because it's always being in Elberta. I mean, it's never been this booming metropolis with lots of people around with lots of money to spend. It is what it is," Heather says.
Her business may have to hobble through this summer more than normal. The street will be torn up for the entire tourism season, June to October.
"It's going to be a pain, for now, but come next summer it's going to be beautiful," she says. "It's going to be worth it."
Becky agrees. The two friends are picturing a very different summer for 2011, with tasteful street lighting, cast downward, so as not to obstruct the view of the stars, and storm sewers. There will also be sidewalks between their two restaurants, nice since they frequently try to share customers.
And there will be trees, 70 new trees, according to Village Clerk Sharyn Bower.
"Honey locusts, red maple and Bradford pear, it's just going to be a very beautiful street," she says.
Sharyn says the state has too-long patched and re-patched this state highway, one of the shortest in Michigan. And its industrial appearance simply doesn't mesh with its main uses today. Most of its travelers are people dining, swimming and boating. And, one day, when the economy turns around, the village expects to see condos, and a yacht club.
"Any birth is painful, and this was a re-birth," Sharyn says of Elberta. "It went from a bustling place to a slower pace, and we just had to get our identity in place.
"And I think any place that goes from major industry into tourism, and that type of thing, there's some pain. But it seems to be working. It seems to be going in the right direction."
This October, once it looks more like a village street than a state highway, it'll also become a village street. The state will retire M-168, and turn the street over to the Village of Elberta.