President Cindy Larsen says they’ll now be known as the Muskegon Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce.
“It does seem simplistic in a way that a name change could make such a difference. But people put a lot of time and energy when they think about the names of their companies of their children, of anything that they name. So a name does make a difference.”
Larsen says they hope adding ‘lakeshore’ to their name will give people a positive visual image that better reflects the region’s identity.
Muskegon is still heavily tied to manufacturing. But like many communities in Michigan, that’s changing.
“We’ve clung a little too closely to the past, which we are very proud of, but now Muskegon today is a much different Muskegon,” Larsen said.
She says Muskegon isn’t abandoning its manufacturing identity, rather adopting its’ new identity as a ‘blue economy’.
“The blue economy is really any type of industry that takes advantage of being on the water.”
The Muskegon Chamber has been around since 1897. It’s been called different things, but Larson says none of the names ever reflected Muskegon’s location right on the Lake Michigan shoreline, its deep water port, or the dozens of inland lakes there.
