CALUMET — During a public presentation via the internet last Thursday, the chairwoman of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), and executive director of Main Street Calumet, Leah Polzien, defined a downtown district from the angle of a community rather than a business cluster, then discussed the role and function of a DDA, and its contributions to a downtown district as well as to that district’s community. She then went on to explain the purpose and function of Main Street Calumet.

Main Street Calumet is a non-profit organization formed in 2003 to support the downtown, encourage historic preservation, and economic development in the community. Governance consists of a volunteer board, using volunteer committees. Polzien, she said, is a paid, part-time staff person of the organization.

“We had a member of the community ask who is representing which organization (the DDA and Main Street Calumet),” said Polzien. “I am chairperson of the village of Calumet Downtown Development Authority — that is an unpaid position, it’s a volunteer position — and I am a paid, part-time staff member of Main Street Calumet.”

Typically, Main Street programs are part of a DDA, she said, but Calumet’s Main Street organization was not created to function in that manner. Rather, she said it was created as a separate, non-profit organization.

“That was long before my time,” she said, “so, I’m not exactly sure why it was done that way, but that is how it is.”

Across the state of Michigan, said Polzien, there are very few communities with separate non-profit branches.

“If you’re a main street program, you’re typically — Main Street Sault Ste. Marie, or Sault Ste. Marie DDA doing business as Main Street Sault Ste. Marie, or something like this.”

The mission of Main Street Calumet is, she explained, to promote collaborate between businesses and organizations, individuals and governments, to create a vibrant, historic community.

“So, we want to see Calumet successful, and we want to see all of our businesses, all of our individuals who live here, and all of our government entities, entities like the Village (Council), the DDA, our Convention and Visitors Bureau — KEDA (Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance) — all of us working together, so that Calumet’s really as successful as it can be.”

There are a lot of opportunities in Calumet, said Polzien, and the goal is bringing them all together.

Main Street Calumet, she said, does a lot of events and promotions, where the DDA provides infrastructure support, as well as support for historic preservation.

“Our DDA does not host events,” she said. “Our DDA does not publish brochures. That’s something the DDA has supported Main Street Calumet to carry out those activities, to make sure that they happen in Calumet.”

Main Street Calumet hosts annual events, which were changed somewhat in 2020, but among other events, the organization still was able to host:

• A children’s Fourth of July celebration

• A Halloween

• The annual farmers’ market

• A Lady’s Night Out shopping event.

Polzien said also what Main Street Calumet does, and has done in the past, is “one off” events, if something special was happening.

“In the past we’ve tried to help out with Great Bear Chase and have volunteers serving as kind of a welcome wagon at registration for the Great Bear Chase,” she continued. “We show up, have a bunch of our brochures, talk to the people who are coming to Calumet to ski in the race, and tell them what great stuff is going on, and where to go for dinner, or what other things they shouldn’t miss while they’re here.”

In January 2021, Main Street Calumet conducted a Take-out to Win Ride Out COVID event, in which Calumet businesses volunteered; they donated prizes to encourage community members to shop at our local bars and restaurants.

“It was really fun,” said Polzien. “We had several hundred entries, and it was just a nice, positive thing for the community to be able to participate in.”

The organization also maintains social media accounts that are used to keep the village of Calumet in the spotlight, reach out to former area residents, Michigan Tech graduates, people Polzien refers to as “alumni.”

“They like to keep in touch,” she said. “They like to see what’s happening. They want to see the huge snowbanks. They want to see what buildings are being rehabbed in Calumet. So, we’re able to provide that presence and let them know what’s going on, and keep people connected to our community, and hopefully get them to come back and re-invest in our area.”

Main Street Calumet also focuses on economic development, providing business support. For example, in 2019, the organization conducted an event called Caffeinated Conversations for business owners to come and learn about a variety of topics. The main focus of the events, said Polzien, were technology related topics, such as how to set up a Facebook page, how take a photograph using a cell phone for a social media page, along the lines of what she called a “lunch and learn type thing.”

Providing a summary overview, Polzien said, in 2020, Main Street Calumet was able to leverage a salary into a $50,000 grant; 28 weeks of a farmers’ market, 350 youth participated in the Halloween celebration; in spite of the pandemic making a park barbecue and a parade on the Fourth of July possible, Downtown Calumet was able to hand out small gift bags, and provide children with a little something for the Fourth of July.

Summing up her presentation, Polzien said she is hoping for in the future to have more conversations between the Main Street Board, the DDA Board, the Village Council, in the form of a work session.

“We can really dig into some of these topics, concerns, that I’m sure that are out there,” she said. “There is still some work to be done on the DDA side — some compliance issues and work there.”

Moving into April, she said she hoping for Main Street Calumet to conduct a group work session, adding that she will put information on the website on that.

“Hopefully,” she said, “that is something everyone would like to participate in in the future.”