Northern Lights - Issue 37 - July 2025
Emmet & Charlevoix Counties Catastrophic Ice Storm: Partners Provide Game Changing Help For Small Businesses
by AMY LANE
Elder Piper Beer & Cider Co-owner, Eeva Redmond was grateful for the local response efforts following the March ice storms: “It was impactful to us to have that assistance in our time of need, but also to have our needs seen by our community.”
When northern Michigan got hit in late March by a catastrophic ice storm, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for Elder Piper Beer & Cider in Petoskey.
Not only was it the slow, lean time of year for local businesses awaiting spring’s rebirth of busy season, but the brewery and cidery co-owned by Eeva Redmond and husband Trace was just barely a year open. To the young business came the ice storm, knocking out power for five days, setting back the production schedule and sending downed tree limbs and other exterior damage to the property.
Responding to a “Perfect Storm”
“Certainly it was not in our business plan or prediction for how our April would go,” Eeva Redmond said. “To have that ice storm…when we’re at our lowest cash flow point, when we’re trying to build up for summer, added an element of uncertainty for us that was pretty scary.”
But Elder Piper and 60 other small businesses in Emmet and Charlevoix counties got rapid, much-needed help through an emergency mini-grant program put together with donations from the Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation and the Charlevoix County Community Foundation, assistance from local chambers of commerce and others, and administration and oversight by Venture North Funding & Development.
The collaboration brought $80,000 in small grants -- $500 to $1,500 each – to eligible Emmet and Charlevoix County businesses with nine or fewer employees. They were businesses with immediate needs – replacing lost inventories; making payroll, rent and utility payments; repairing damaged property, and navigating other storm issues.
For Elder Piper, a $1,000 grant helped recoup money spent on storm cleanup and repairs, including replacing an exterior lamp and fence. “I saw this grant as a great opportunity for us because our losses were not large enough for an insurance claim, but they weren’t small enough to not be impactful to us,” Redmond said.
With low cash, loss of revenue and unexpected expenses, the grant “meant that we were able to move forward closer to the way we had hoped to, after this natural disaster,” she said.
And it was more: “To have our needs seen by our community foundation, the chamber of commerce and Venture North…it meant something to us. It was impactful to us to have that assistance in our time of need, but also to have our needs seen by our community.”
Partners for Getting Things Done
Relief and recovery from the storm were top of mind when DJ Jones, executive director of the Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation, reached out to Venture North President Laura Galbraith. Jones, whose foundation launched its own ice storm emergency response fund to support nonprofit organizations and government entities delivering emergency aid to individuals and families across Emmet County, had been hearing from Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Nikki Devitt about urgent and widespread small-business needs.
Jones’ mind went to another crisis – the COVID-19 pandemic – and the Venture North’s Regional Resiliency Program that provided lifeline grants of up to $5,000 to small businesses. The program was supported by coalitions and partnerships, with donors including energy companies, community foundations, economic development organizations and others. The Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation was active in that effort and contributed $75,000 at the time.
Galbraith, left, of Venture North, was eager when asked to combine efforts with Jones, right, of the Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation: “It made perfect sense for us to pivot and provide resources to businesses affected by the ice storm.”
“I just felt like we could recreate what we did during COVID with Venture North,” Jones said. “I give Laura credit for saying yes. I really truly appreciate Venture North stepping up and partnering with us.”
Contacted by Jones, Galbraith’s immediate reaction was “of course. Venture North has always been a financial first responder. Our business model allows flexibility to pivot and respond to emergencies such as the ice storm.
“Venture North originated during the 2008 recession, we pivoted in 2020 to providing emergency grants during COVID and the statewide business closures. It made perfect sense for us to pivot and provide resources to businesses affected by the ice storm.”
Joining the Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation was the Charlevoix County Community Foundation, which through its own urgent needs fund was accepting donations that were aiding a wide range of relief efforts by nonprofits. When the Charlevoix foundation was approached about the business grants, it was eager to offer support, said foundation President Sara Ward.
Leveraging Venture North’s Small Business Mission
By providing funds to nonprofit Venture North, the foundation was able to impact and help an important sector of the community – business – that would otherwise not be eligible for the foundation’s grants, she said.
Ward said that with Venture North’s knowledge of small businesses, its outline of those to assist and its administrative expertise, “it was a program we were excited to support. We trusted they know how to support small businesses, because that’s the space they are working in all the time.”
The foundation contributed $20,000 to the mini grant program and invited local chambers including the East Jordan Area Chamber of Commerce and the Charlevoix Area Chamber of Commerce to be part of one of two local teams forming to review grant applications and make recommendations for funding.
At the Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation, $35,000 from the foundation’s own funds combined with $25,000 from an individual donor to provide $60,000 for the mini grant program. The foundation also reached out to local organizations to be on the ice storm grant review team for Emmet County.
“Our philosophy during COVID and during the ice storm, is we just want to provide the support needed to help our community recover,” Jones said. “Venture North had more knowledge than we did…we totally trusted the committee and Venture North to make those decisions and those allocations.”
Both foundations, Galbraith said, are “generous and quick to respond to an emergency.” She said the process to receive their contributions was easy and fast, and the money, invaluable. “We wouldn’t have been able to pull off the mini grant program without their financial support,” she said.
A Game Changing Response
And it all came together fast; barely two weeks after the ice storm hit, the mini grant program was announced. Galbraith said it was important to move rapidly; the local grant review team members stressed the importance to respond quickly, at a time when no other federal or state emergency financial relief had yet emerged.
Said Jones: “In these kinds of situations, you do have to act quickly initially, to let people know there is something in the works, or at least something coming. There was some urgency to getting the dollars out.”
There was plenty of need. The Petoskey chamber’s Devitt said that “within the first 72 hours or so” after the ice storm she started getting texts and calls from businesses, concerned about the length of time the power would be out and asking if there would be any resources to help. Top of mind to many employers, she said, was “how do I help my employees, because if I’m closed, they’re not going to make money either.”
The impacts were many, including loss of sales and perishable inventory, inability to pay rent or pay for orders placed for the upcoming season, and lost days of work for those providing professional or personal services. The grants, while small, went far, Devitt said.
“It’s not a big grant, $500 to $1,500 in the grand scheme of things, is not a large amount,” she said. “But in Emmet County, getting out $60,000 was absolutely game-changing to those businesses. We heard from a lot of them…(they) were so appreciative of it.
“Sometimes just something, is better than nothing. And I think it’s also a big thing for businesses to know, your community has your back. It shows the businesses that your community cares; they support them. It’s a mental lift, too.”
Sitting on the Emmet grant review committee, Devitt and others provided local knowledge and context of businesses that applied, including stories of generosity and sharing – like food, services or even flowers, brought to warming shelters by a florist who emptied her coolers. “It’s things like that that have another layer to it…being able to offer that to the rest of my review committee, was my role. It’s telling the story of our businesses,” Devitt said.
“Businesses, when they couldn’t operate, didn’t have sales, were still doing things in the community.”
In Emmet County, 96 businesses applied and 45 received grants, helping not only businesses but communities.
“Small impacts for small businesses are actually huge impacts for communities. They’re the backbone,” Devitt said of small business. “What Venture North and the community foundations I think were able to pull together…it’s a true, true testament to how our community works. When they see a need, they address it, quickly. It is one of the shining examples of why it’s good to do business in northern Michigan and in Emmet County.”
“I think it’s also a big thing for businesses to know, your community has your back. It shows the businesses that your community cares; they support them. It’s a mental lift, too.”
Nikki Devitt, Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce
Invested in Communities and Small Businesses
And, it’s “a mark of how invested” Venture North is Emmet and Charlevoix counties, she said. “They are pulling the resources together to make sure our communities are strong, throughout northern Michigan.
“This really showcases that Venture North does what they say they are going to do. They support businesses, they support growth. They want to see strong communities.”
Devitt said more businesses now will be aware of Venture North and can learn what it offers and how it can work into future business plans.
Said Venture North’s Galbraith: “We are here to help. We have low-cost lending to help businesses that still need capital. Our loan programs can assist with inventory, equipment or working capital needs. We process quickly and offer competitive terms.
“Our business consultants are able to offer services for free. Our team can help businesses navigate the new SBA (U.S. Small Business Administration) loan program that was just announced. (And) they can help with accounting, marketing and other general consulting needs.”
Sarah Van Horn, president of the Charlevoix Area Chamber of Commerce, said Venture North’s funding and resources hold value and opportunity for businesses. “I think what they provide is a need in the community,” she said.
Charlevoix Area Chamber president, Sara Van Horn, center, agreed that the emergency grants also “help with sentiment and mentality,” enabling businesses to “feel not so alone, not so forgotten.”
Doing a Lot Together
“I definitely think that there’s a lot that we can do together, to share what they do with businesses and how we can collaborate to make our communities a good place to do business. Coming together, for that supportive environment for a business.”
Twenty-five Charlevoix County businesses applied for ice storm mini grants, with 16 awarded. Van Horn said needs were varied and wide-reaching, including food losses at restaurants, lost sales at retailers, lost work days and cancelled jobs for tradespeople, and physical damage to buildings, equipment, tools and infrastructure. “It really was across the board,” she said.
Businesses were grateful, Van Horn said, “for any opportunity and any amount of money to help.”
And beyond the money, the grant program showed that “our area organizations, the community foundation, Venture North…saw a need and wanted to jump in and address it. It showed that those organizations are there to support. I think it does help with sentiment and mentality,” she said, so businesses “feel not so alone, not so forgotten.”
Van Horn was on a local grant review team, as were representatives from the Petoskey and East Jordan chambers, the Harbor Springs Area Chamber of Commerce, the Northern Lakes Economic Alliance, SCORE, Harborblue Advisors and Northwest Michigan Works.
Local Teams, Local Decisions
Venture North relied “100 percent” on the local teams’ recommendations, Galbraith said. “We learned the importance of having local decision makers during the COVID RRP program. The grant review teams really had the intel on which communities were struck harder by the ice storm, been out of power longer or experienced more damage. They know the business owners and their staff…(and) the extra good deeds they may have provided to the community.”
Between the foundations and all the organizations that came together to make the grant program possible, “everyone was focused on helping the community, there were no egos, no ulterior motives, just fabulous collaboration. They all agreed to help so quickly. They all spent a lot of time and effort as volunteers to meet multiple times over a short period of time,” Galbraith said.
“Just like with the COVID RRP, the emergency response really strengthened our partnership/our relationship with these individuals/organizations. We continue to work with these organizations to connect with business owners, identify ways to continue partnering. We are closer than we were before the storm and plan to continue to build our relationship.”
Following the ice storms, a survey in Emmet County revealed that 97% of businesses experienced disruptions, with 86% suspending operations and 71% reporting employees unable to come to work.
An Ecosystem of Help for Small Businesses
At Julienne Tomatoes in Petoskey, it wasn’t the first assist by Venture North. Owner Julie Adams said the organization has been a resource over the years, providing financial support as well as business advice and guidance. Then came April, when the café was shuttered for six days as Adams grappled with the ice storm’s loss of business and losing and replacing $5,000 worth of food.
Fortuitously, she had just a couple months earlier reviewed and upgraded her insurance policy, which helped cover the total $20,000 loss she suffered from the ice storm. When Adams heard about the mini grant program, her thoughts went to her employees, facing personal hardship as well as six lost days of work while the café was closed.
She applied for the minimum $500 grant amount and gave all the money to her employees to help them restock their refrigerators. “I knew especially some of my key people were going to have a very large impact…and without them, there is no Julienne Tomatoes,” she said.
Adams is no stranger to challenge: There was the pandemic and its closures, then two years later, the backup of the city sewer system into the restaurant basement, bringing 10 inches of sewer water and closing Julienne Tomatoes for two months. This year, the ice storm.
“I feel like for the last five years, we’ve been in recovery,” Adams said. Still, over its 22 years, the restaurant has done well. “We’ve always been very fortunate from the very beginning to have what I would consider a successful and growing business, and ultimately a thriving business even through adversity,” she said.
A recent photo of the Julienne Tomatoes team, with owner Julie Adams at center, highlights the tight-knit group behind the popular, award-winning Petoskey restaurant. The image underscores how many livelihoods depend on the restaurant staying open—something the 2025 ice storms abruptly and frighteningly disrupted.
Adams said Julienne Tomatoes just had its best May and June in probably 10 years, and since the ice storm she’s seen local and non-local support for the community that gives her optimism in the wake of devastation.
“The thought of your special place not thriving, people can’t tolerate that. We have people reaching out…to buy gift certificates to support us,” she said. “We knew we were going to be OK.”
And so is Elder Piper Beer & Cider, where Redmond is looking ahead to tap room growth and improvements, expanding distribution and getting product into packaging. Sales continue on an upward trajectory and “I am excited for the business to continue to grow,” she said.
The Petoskey native and beer professional, and her award-winning brewer husband, founded Elder Piper in 2023 after a decade in craft beer in other parts of the country. Early on, Venture North helped Elder Piper with a small professional services grant and Redmond said that between Venture North and other organizations like the Petoskey chamber, “we feel we have a really supportive network of resources around us. As needs arise, we know where to look, we know where to go when we have a question.
“When we returned to northern Michigan to open this small business, we returned because we love this place. We didn’t know what resources were available to us, if any. But to find that there were not only great resources, but an ecosystem of support for small businesses in northern Michigan…I think we would have taken great comfort in that and jumped sooner perhaps.”
Amy Lane is a veteran Michigan business reporter whose background includes work with Crain Communications Inc., Crain’s Detroit Business and serving as Capitol correspondent for nearly 25 years. Now a freelance reporter and journalist, Lane’s work has appeared in many publications including Traverse City Business News.
