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USDA Highlights Role in Reopening Sleeping Bear Inn within Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Name
Alec Lloyd
Phone
City
East Lansing
Release Date

U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Rural Business Cooperative Service Administrator Betsy Dirksen Londrigan today visited the Sleeping Bear Inn within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to highlight how USDA is helping revitalize historic tourist attractions.

“When USDA invests in people and businesses in rural communities, it creates a ripple effect of economic opportunities across the region, state and nation,” Londrigan said. “From revitalizing historic districts to expanding markets for local farmers, the investments the Biden-Harris Administration has made here in Michigan reflect a continued commitment to growing the American economy from the middle out and bottom up, all while creating good-paying jobs that empower rural communities to thrive.”

USDA Rural Development provided a $1,380,000 Guaranteed Business Loan to Balancing Environment and Rehabilitation, a non-profit formed in 2018 to revitalize and renovate the historic inn.

Located in the Glen Haven Historic District Village within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, the inn is a nine-room premier bed and breakfast. The National Park Service owns the property and buildings and has provided a 40-year lease to the organization to operate the facility. 

Londrigan also visited with the Commongrounds Cooperative in Traverse City and Lakeview Hill Farms, which received a $250,000 Value Added Producer Grant to expand the sales of organic flowers and vegetables. 

USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov