Boyne Mountain announces plans to build sports complex

Boyne Mountain Resort has announced plans for a new sports complex, which will be located on land across from the resort’s M-75 entrance. The property, nearly 200 acres, was acquired in 2012. The complex is expected to offer six grass fields for sporting events and open in summer 2016. Earlier this summer, Boyne Mountain built a single field on resort property serving as the home turf for Petoskey Lacrosse. The resort plans to add two additional fields as early as spring 2015 to cater to events and tournaments while the sports complex is being constructed. The two phases of development will create up to nine individual fields. The innovative move of combining quality fields with luxury lodging and resort amenities will make athletic events at Boyne Mountain unique from any other sports complex in the Midwest.  Details.

Kim Altobello named associate director of Boyne Area Chamber

Boyne City native Kim Altobello has been named the new associate director of the Boyne Area Chamber. She replaces Deb Jason, who accepted a position with Northern Michigan Escapes, a new vacation property management company. Kim graduated from Boyne City High School and Patricia Stevens Career College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before moving to Southern California where she worked in the banking industry. She served most recently as executive vice president and chief administrative officer for a community bank in Santa Clarita CA. In 2012, Kim moved back to Boyne City, where she worked as a Realtor for Coldwell Banker Schmidt in Boyne City and as a sales associate at Chico's women's clothing store in Petoskey. She also assists her fiance Shawn MacNaughton with his business, MacNaughton's Pest Control. Her family has long been active in the local business community, as her late father Bob Herrmann owned a tire business and REH Acres, a wood stove business. Her mother Roseann Herrmann formerly owned a gift store call The Warm Spot  on Water Street. Kim is active in several local organizations including Eta Nu Women's Club, the Ladies Auxiliary of the Boyne City Eagles, and she is on the board of the Charlevoix Area Humane Society. Her adult children Christopher and Jonathan live in Southern California.

Van Dam Custom Boats cast in national retailer’s television commercial

Ben Van Dam and Jess Brown

The facilities and employees of Van Dam Custom Boats were recently cast to appear in a national television and web-based series of commercials for Sears, representing their Craftsman line of tools. The commercial production took place the week of Oct. 13 at the Van Dam facilities in Boyne City. In total, 35 individuals representing the production company, casting company, advertising agency and Sears came to Van Dam for a 12-hour one-day production shoot. The director for this commercial was flown in from Paris, France, while others came from Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Detroit.
Van Dam Custom Boats was chosen to be cast in this commercial from a field of 80 companies nationwide, and was chosen for their reputation in the field of custom wooden boat building, attention to hand craftsmanship, artistry and employee presence. Ben Van Dam and Jess Brown (pictured above) were cast as principals in the commercial. The advertising that will be developed from the day’s filming will consist of 15-second, 30-second and 90-second commercials. The commercials will air on television and on Sears’ website before year-end.

Leslie Neilson: "Boyne City is truly a great place to do business"

The Northern Express profiled Leslie Neilson, owner of the Inspired Living shop in Boyne City, as part of their special issue on the Little Traverse Bay area. Here is the interview with Kristi Kates: 

I’ve been doing this since: “We opened in July of 2000 as Bali and Beyond—importing gifts and goods from Bali—and we changed our name to Inspired Living in 2008.”

I can’t believe this has changed so much since we started: “Boyne City! When I started 14 years ago, Boyne City wasn’t much to write home about, but I could at least afford to have a store here. Now, with all of the wonderful improvements and developments, Boyne City is truly a great place to do business.”

I still love: “That our store has such a good energy. It truly inspires me and it makes me feel better just to be in the store. I love our customers and I love coming to work every day.”

Our business’ reputation is built on: “Providing a positive and inspiring experience through sights and music and aromas and energy. We offer a calm environment that allows you to just take a break.”

The most popular thing at our business when we started was: “When we first opened, our best-sellers were definitely the Balinese kites.”

Today, our most popular offerings are: “This will sound crazy—especially since people don’t write as much anymore—but greeting cards! We have three different lines of cards now and one of our most popular are the Positively Green cards by Compendium. We sell a ton of them. I’ve had people buy 30, 40 at a time.”

What I love most about doing business in the Little Traverse region: “I love the fact that we get a little break after summer and I love the change of seasons here. The different seasons bring in new customers who are looking for different things and that helps keep us on our toes and keep things fresh in the store.”

Full story with other profiles.

Efforts to attract cyclists shift into high gear in Boyne City

With one non-motorized trail in place along U.S. 31 and another ready to be built over the course of the next several years, there’s little doubt that Charlevoix County is set to cement itself a major cycling mecca. However with several recent steps the city commission and others have made recently, Boyne City is poised to be right at the center of it.... The basic Trail Town concept is simple: ensure that communities near a trail are better able to maximize the economic potential of trail-based tourism. Communities participate in a planning process to find ways they can improve their offerings for trail users ― anything from adding access to drinking water or restrooms to recruiting new businesses that cater to the recreational public. Full story from Petoskey News-Review.