"Made In Michigan" Arrives on the Wisconsin Border
MARINETTE, WI -- Our first stop in Escanaba, at Sayklly’s Confectionary and gifts, had treated us sweetly. And we left with some yummy treats. But, it was now time to say goodbye to the U.P.’s third largest city, and head down coastal M-35, along the Bay of Green Bay (redundancy noted) to the Menominee River, and a smaller town of the same name, that may soon be moving up that list.
The reason? Marinette Marine. Standing on the Menominee, Michigan side we were able to clearly see the U.S.S. Fort Worth. It’s the second of five ships the Wisconsin company is in the process of building for the United States Navy. But a new contract approved by Congress and signed by President Obama in December, calls for more ships. This area is on the verge of an economic boom that is expected to add 1000 jobs to this area by 2013, to a company where roughly half of it’s employees live on the Michigan side of the river.
The Michigan side, however, has something just as surprising. In our second U.P. stop, we’ll take to the skies over Menominee and show you a company who’s training helicopters allowed even me to fly them. You won’t believe which countries this Michigan company is making choppers for, and which one it isn’t.
That is in our next stop in Made In Michigan – Upper Peninsula, Enstrom Helicopter Company.
