Rogers City’s Main Street Community Efforts

After being designated a Main Street Community, Rogers City has some work to do to maintain that stature.

A Main Street Community is a process that communities have to apply for in order to receive special attention from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, to build up their communities.

“We have a tremendous amount of volunteer hours built into this now, and we’re seeing some real results,” said Rogers City Mayor Scott McLennan. We’re at the beginning stages, but the results are pretty amazing so far.”

There are only 27 Main Street Communities in the state, and another important aspect is being open to re–development. Rogers City carries both of those designations, and is one of only eight in the state to do so.

“It’s putting skin in the game. It’s the city council, the DDA board, and most importantly, it’s the community itself saying, ‘we would like to move forward in revitalizing our community,'” said McLennan.

While they want to revitalize and rebuild Rogers City, they don’t want to take away the attractions that make the small town what it is.

“What Main Street wants to do is put more focus on preserving what we have, maintaining the character, recognizing the history that we have, and really taking pride in what we’ve got, and not wanting to just steamroll that entirely,” said Main Street Executive Director Alex Harimoto.

Harimoto says the community buy–in is going to be an important piece in building and revitalizing the community.

“We are working for the community through this Main Street process and we are very grateful for the support we’ve had so far, and we want to continue working for the community in the best way we can,” he said.

One of those ways they want to focus on building the community in 2023 is creating more places for people to stay and have a great experience in Rogers City.