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Community Excellence Awards

The Votes Are In - St. Joseph Wins the "Race for the Cup" Community Excellence Award

The City of St. Joseph won the Community Excellence "Race for the Cup" Award, a top statewide honor during the Michigan Municipal League's 109th annual convention, Thursday, September 21 in Grand Traverse County.   The 535 municipal officials in attendance voted for one of seven regional winners and St. Joseph won top honors with an annual community arts project that attracts out-of-town visitors and increases downtown traffic to the extent some business owners actually expanded.

Regional finalists included:

Village of L'Anse – Downtown Revitalization/Job Creation/Flood Containment project

City of Grand Haven – Mixed-Use Waterfront Brownfield Redevelopment project

City of Brighton – Mayor’s Commission on Public Art project

Cities of Alma and St. Joseph and Pine River Township– Intergovernmental Agreement to attract Great Lakes Energy/Research Park and provide water

City of Alpena – Fiber Optics Consortium

City of Sandusky – Affordable Senior Housing project

MML Executive Director Daniel P. Gilmartin stated, "For communities to be successful in the 21st Century, they must be distinctive.  The St. Joseph city commission not only understands this, but has moved forward to create a one-of-a-kind art project.  Efforts like St. Joseph’s are vital to business success in this state." 

Mayor Mary Goff declared, "The City Commission, staff, St. Joseph Today, Perry Ballard, Inc., and our merchants are very proud of this win. A special thank you to the talented artists in our community. We could not have received this award without them. To win such a prestigious statewide competition when over 500 of your peers have voted, is something to be valued and we are humbled. We are very blessed to live in such a great community where everyone works so hard to make St. Joseph the best place to live, work, and play!"

The Michigan Municipal League is the one clear voice for Michigan communities. Through advocacy at the state and federal levels, we proactively represent communities to help them sustain highly livable, desirable, and unique places within the state. We create and offer our members services and events that range from traditional to cutting edge, in order to help educate and inspire them to remain focused on their passion for the area they represent. We are a non-profit, but we act with the fervor of entrepreneurs; our people are dynamic, energetic and highly approachable, passionately and aggressively pushing change for better communities.