A big drawback for business in Empire is the village’s lack of adequate wastewater treatment. Amidst the specter of a shuttered grocery swirls an impassioned, at times contentious, debate over whether the village should invest in a municipal sewer system—either to benefit the core business district or to cover the wastewater needs of most residents.
Taste the Local Difference (TLD), Michigan’s local food marketing agency and a social enterprise of the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, is facilitating a state funded grant called Building Healthy Communities (BHC) that creates local change for better health.
Duane Campbell, a civil engineer turned brat entrepreneur, serves up these delicacies at the Foothills Café in Burdickville on Thursday through Saturday evenings. “I try to make inspired brats. Anyone can go to the store and buy a package of Johnsonville Brats,” he says. “Compare those to a handcrafted raspberry chipotle brat, or one with turkey, feta, tomato and fresh basil.” Duane often uses local ingredients, and always a better grade of meat than run-of-the-mill bratwursts.
Empire businesses including The Secret Garden, The Miser’s Hoard, Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate, Sleeping Bear Surf & Kayak and Deerings Market will promote a series of Musical Evenings through the summer on alternate Thursday evenings. The first one, on Thursday, July 14, will begin at 7 p.m. and feature music by Bo Bossa, a local four-piece ensemble that plays swing, jazz, blues, Latin, fusion and whatever else they feel like playing. The stores involved will provide refreshments and stay open late.
To simply describe Phil Deering as a life-long local grocer and civic leader in Empire seems too matter-of-fact, too understated.. But that’s just the way this humble man would have it. Phil was born in 1947 and attended the old Empire school.