Merchants prepare to welcome students
Merchants prepare to welcome students
By GARRETT NEESE, DMG Writer
HOUGHTON — With students coming back to Michigan Tech University and Finlandia University next month, Houghton’s Downtown Merchants Association is discussing plans for welcoming them back.
The activities will take place during the weekend of Aug. 26-27. Tech dorms reopen on Aug. 26, with a week of orientation leading up to the start of class on Sept. 5.
“That’s the big opportunity, when the kids aren’t tied up, other than moving in,” said Dick Gray, owner of the Keweenaw Brewing Co.
Gray said the weekend is a good time for businesses to introduce themselves to the students. Last year, he said, merchants held sidewalk sales, along with bands playing in the downtown.
“We can’t do a Yooper Luge,” Gray said. “We’ll have to wait for Winter Carnival to do that.”
Keweenaw Peninsula Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Richard Baker suggested having a night where businesses stay open from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. to draw in students.
“Some communities have done those things and been very successful,” he said.
The activities will also coincide with sidewalk sales in Hancock. The cities’ respective downtown groups have been striving for more coordination in recent months.
“It’s just a little piece of water and a bridge that separate us,” said Baker, who had just come from a meeting of Hancock’s downtown group.
Garrett Neese can be reached at gneese@mininggazette.com
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