A group of Upper Peninsula residents gathered for the first time as a community to celebrate Christmas on Saturday.
The party included their first Christmas tree lighting and Danielle Bammert, community coordinator for the Sawyer Community Association, hopes it isn’t the last.
The community association is located at the former site of K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base. The base had, at one time, been a part of Marquette County but was closed in 1995.
When the base had closed, many residents vacated their homes.
But the area now has 1,800 people, who moved in after developers decided to save the homes from demolition.
Bammert said the association was created with the help of MSU Extension to better develop communication with people living in the area.
The association sets up family nights at a local YMCA and has a continuing Thursday night meeting. The association has hopes of developing the area into a village or community.
“(The association has) talked about it many times, it is just a lot of work and plus you have to have money,” she said. “But we keep our eyes and ears open and I think there are people that wish we could be a community, but we are still in the infancy stages.”
Bammert said Rita Hodgins, an MSU Extension district agent, was instrumental in helping the association form.
She said Hodgins helped apply for grants and form the association.
“Rita came out here and helped us create community dialogue,” she said. “Without Rita, I don’t think we would be here right now.”
Hodgins said the extension was a training and educational support for the community conversations.
“It has been an amazing transformation,” she said. “Just Saturday they had their very first Christmas tree lighting and about a hundred people showed up.”
For the election of the association, 60 people voted in the area, Hodgins said.
Bob Mulally, owner of Sawyer Floral Services in Sands Township, was stationed at the air force base until 1993 and still resides in the area.
“It is really close-knit, people know each other and look out for other people,” he said. “People are really eager to bring up their families in this environment.”
