[baystater]

Can someone out there give me some information about the township of L'Anse? I'd like to know what your impressions of the town are. And if it would be a good place for a 30something to move to.

Thanks

[Theresa823]

If you are a married unattractive female, you would be welcome here in LAnse. If you are attractive and/or single forget it. There's alot of negative small town attitude here. There's absolutely no entertainment or nightlife. They dont welcome outsiders well.

[tuebor]

I recently finished grad school at Michigan Tech. Based on what I heard from some Ojibwe teenagers, I gathered that there were some bad feelings between the white and Native American populations of the L'Anse/Baraga area, although I never heard of any violence, nor did I feel unwelcome when I attended a pow-wow. (Theresa823, could you comment on this?)

If you like bluegrass/old time music, there is a big traditional music festival in nearby Aura every summer.

[Torrid]

Originally Posted by Theresa823

If you are a married unattractive female, you would be welcome here in LAnse. If you are attractive and/or single forget it. There's alot of negative small town attitude here. There's absolutely no entertainment or nightlife. They dont welcome outsiders well.

OMG, I had to laugh when I read this....is that REALLY true?? LOL! Good heavens! A place where ugly people rule!! Woot Woot!!

[baystater]

I don't know if anybody is very near the area, and not sure if you can answer the why. But I've been read the local paper via the INTERNET and I noticed in in todays addition the town is currently working on there store fronts and a pharmacy chain named pamida is opening a 26,000 square foot store on highway 41. Also last year they worked on a street-scape project to widen and beautify the downtown area.

local news

Pamida for L'Anse

The Omaha, NE-based Pami- da Corporation is aiming for a spring 2009 opening of its 26,000 square foot store on South US-41 in L’Anse.
According to Pamida’s Jim Larson, vice-president of store planning, the firm is hoping to have the shell enclosed by winter’s onset and continue work over the season.
Larson said the firm has opened 18 stores in the past 1.5 years and is pleased to be including the L’Anse area in its expansion plans.

New store facades dressing up L'Anse

L’Anse’s downtown businesses are looking good these days, thanks in part to a facade-improvement program sparked by the Downtown Development Authority. For the past two years the DDA has offered businesses within its boundaries a grant toward sprucing up the fronts of their buildings.
“This has stimulated a lot of activity within the downtown area, which is very nice,” said Rik Moilanen, DDA Chairman. “And it’s been with very little investment on our part.
“If you are in the DDA boundaries and you want to do something to the front of your building, we will pay the first $2,500, and you can get another $500 if you go with a northwoods or nautical theme,” Moilanen explained.

Now this all sound great and everything. But from the data I getting area is shrinking in population. And Baraga county has consistently high unemployment rates. If I remember correct it typically has the highest unemployment rate in all the U.P.


So my question is what is with all the gentrification and renewal all of a sudden? I'm not saying it a bad thing. I just not sure of the "why" these things are being done. Anybody know?

P.S. I went up last year for a brief visit to the town and baraga county. I have to say it's very beautiful and is a really gem of nature overall.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by Theresa823

If you are a married unattractive female, you would be welcome here in LAnse. If you are attractive and/or single forget it. There's alot of negative small town attitude here. There's absolutely no entertainment or nightlife. They dont welcome outsiders well.

Woo-Hoo what about an married, overweight, 40+ ugly guy, could I be Mayor?

[Great Lakes Pirate]

Pettibon and Terex are two heavy equipment manufacturers with facilities in L'anse/Baraga. Together, they represent probably 50% of the Copper Country's industrial sector.

Another positive on L'anse- most of the community fronts Keweenaw Bay, and it is a self-sustaining community.

The schools aren't so great, and - as posted previously - it is a small, insular town that won't exactly roll out the red carpet to "outsiders".

If I was moving there, I wouldn't go "in town", but rather find some acreage out of town (Skanee, Pelkie, Alston) and enjoy the UP's fresh air (etc).

[MedTech03]

Hey there BayStater! I grew up in L'Anse and now live in Wisconsin. Don't listen to the other people who said that every one is unwelcome to outsiders. I have never heard anyone say people there are rude or mean towards tourists or new people to the area.

About your posts about why they are doing all this new stuff to help the area out when the population is shrinking, high unemployment, etc....
I think first and foremost, Pamida is coming to L'Anse because it is located at a fair distance away from any other "big" retailer. It's 40 miles to nearest Walmart, Shopko, etc and with gas prices the way they are, it's really actually a smart thing to put a business like that in town. Secondly, while the population of L'Anse itself is going down, alot of the people are moving to areas just outside of town. The township population is right near 4,000. The population of Baraga County actually increased in population from 1990 to 2000 (when the last census was taken).

When I was growing up, L'Anse was very stagnant. Nothing new came to town and basically it was the same as it was when my parents were kids. When I went to college (MTU), things started to change a little. We got a new nursing home, a Burger King, Family Dollar, etc. I think other businesses are noticing these new things that have come to town and that they are actually doing pretty good, so they want to come too. It's like the old saying, build it and they will come. Along with the Pamida, I heard that there is also a McDonalds, Econo Foods and a "mini-mall" coming as well. People look for convience when they move to a new town, so if they see a town that is trying to update it's image and new things opening up there, they think it's a good place to settle down. I think in a few years, the population will actually start to go up. Of course we will need new industrial opportunities and other things that provide jobs, but they will come, just as the new retail opportunities have.

All in all, I think that the L'Anse/Baraga area is a great place to live and was a great place to grow up. I couldn't have imagined living anywhere else when I was a kid. I don't live there now just for the fact that I have made a ton of great friends and have a great job where I live now. I would move back in a heart beat if I had all that up there.

So I guess what I'm saying is, if you want to move to L'Anse - go for it! If you get snubbed by a certain few people, blink and move on. You'll find that some awesome people live there!! Good luck!