Keeping Boyne Alive

What to do in a town of 3,000 during a pandemic? You close ranks and pitch in!

This community, I have fondly come to refer to as my hometown, even though I wasn't born here, I have now lived here longer than my actual hometown. In the last 30 years I have been impressed, stupified and downright dumbfounded (in a good way) by the sense of community in this small Northern Michigan bubble.

The photo I attached is a small collage of one of the ways our community has banded together to keep Boyne Alive and thriving during these unprecedented times. The restaurants have continued to not only survive but thrive they have done a phenomenal job of apply the mantra “do or die”.

The restaurants have viewed this as an opportunity rather than an obstacle, they have adapted to the needs of those around them in so many ways that it would be impossible to list them all. From creating side hustles with food trucks, bringing food to where the people are, to creating tent dining outside in the summer to heated igloos in the winter, dining by campfire and curbside pickup I think has probably been the biggest change in our town with the city marking off public parking spaces for the express purpose of curbside pick up. Everyone has banded together to make up a piece of the puzzle of success.

There are so many other ways our hometown has joined hands together. I recently performed a survey of the community on Facebook. I asked how has the community during the pandemic helped either on a personal level or in the community as a whole. Here are some of the responses I received:

“We were hurting financially thanks to lockdown and just knew that Christmas would be close to non existent for our kids. But Community Christmas in Boyne City stepped in and brought our kids the Christmas of their dreams. Even more than we would have done had we had the money. They also helped us with a huge box of food! I can't thank them enough!” - Melissa Pritchett

“My family has made a commitment to do curbside twice a week from our restaurants. Also we did our holiday shopping small businesses in our area. These owners have been put in a position where it wasn't a choice. Please continue to support small businesses.” - Colleen Kuehl

“So many good things! Stiggs Covid Relief Meals on Sundays in partnership with local donors/sponsors. Take Home activities from the library to allow for crafting and learning activities-positive activities/interactions. BFPS being on the leading edge of food distribution for families in and outside of their district. Charlevoix Transit offering grocery drop off. Grain Train in Boyne adding curbside pickup. The increased emphasis on Christmas Light displays to bring joy. Neighbors doing grocery runs and porch drop offs. Boyne is community!” - Savanah Cool

“My son struggles with a lung disease. He’s only 11 and it was a huge struggle at first making our way through what was going to keep him safe but also allow him to be a kid. He’s always loved watching our high school basketball team play. He’s never missed a game and the older players became pretty special to him. Although the teams season came to end last spring in what seemed like such an unfair way, the team got together and all signed a basketball for him. My son, Monte, has a favorite player, Pete. Pete delivered the basketball to him and thanked him for being the teams biggest fan. As a Mom I’m SO grateful that I’m able to raise our children here ” - Ruthie Eaton

“Stigg's Restaurant gives away free meals (no questions asked) every Sunday. I think they are doing it until April. I got my husband's contacts polished at Eye's on Main and they wouldn't let me pay, they said to donate to something in town, so I went to Stigg's and gave them money towards dinners. Both businesses are awesome!” - Rebecca Prem Groppe

“Shaggy's Copper Country Skis turned their ski production to face shields for a period of time.” - Asuka Barden

“Northern Michigan Movers & Photography by Kim Culver "A Moment in Time Photography" held a food/toiletries drive for families out of work due to CoVid. Boyne community donated enough to cover over 30 families!” I also did cap and gown sessions for any high school seniors that wanted them. I took donations from the community of $25 per senior and I wrote off the difference. There were 39 seniors total that had cap and gown photo sessions done. And there were 25 donations of $25 each. Also a photography project called “the front porch project” to keep moral up. - Kim Culver

“Community Christmas!, Stiggs Brewery is still doing meals for those in need at no cost for meal or delivery, the Gift Card Giving Program, the food pantries have been awesome, the Kiwanis Club of Boyne City is very active for the kids, SunnySide Restaurant was giving breakfasts for kids when the schools were closed, if there is a need in this community, our citizens really step up , band together and get it done! Boyne Tough, Boyne Proud! We are an amazing community!” - Barbara Young

Summing up I feel a quote from John Maynard Raynes is truly fitting of our little town. “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones”. We can all complain about the difficulty but what are we doing individually to make it better?