Sam's session on bringing the world to Michigan was both entertaining and inspiring.  You couldn't help but be a little jealous of the stories he told of his travels around the globe.  His trip brought him to big cities and small villages alike, and what was amazing was the global reach of technology and commerce.  There was no better illustration of this than the internet cafe at the second to the last stop on his way to the base camp of Mt. Everest...yes I said Mt. Everest!  We are truly in a global economy and communities that can be open and inviting to partnering with foreign companies will be better positioned for the future.  One thing was clear.  It's a rapidly changing world, and we need to change with it or be left behind.

As usual the Community Excellence Awards presentations were excellent.  We heard seven presentations starting with Mt. Pleasant's restoration project of the Borden building.  The other presentations included Allegan's Only One Allegan community marketing project, Wyoming's TEAM 21 project, a project directed at their community's youth, Marquette's 21st Century City project focused on the use of form based code, the Village of Lexington's Bach festival which as you might imagine is a classic music festival, Lathrup Village's Time Bank project which is a community service project where neighbor helps neighbor, and last but not least Cadillac's Clam River greenway project, a recreation pathway built through the community.  Convention attendees will have a hard decision to make as they were all great projects, with voting will continue through Thursday.  

Good Luck to everyone!!