While exploring twitter recently I came across Twitter profile of Scott Westerman.  Being an avid Spartan fan I instantly fell in love with his Twitter background.  I thought it was one of  the most fun, and entertaining backgrounds that I have seen.  On the urging of Scott, I would like to see how creative Michigan can be.  So I am announcing the first WonderMichigan Twitter Background Contest.

Contest Rules:

1. Submissions will be taken from November 10 – November 19, 2011
2. Submissions  can be an existing twitter background or designed just for the contest
3. Please Submit backgrounds on the Contest Page
4. A panel will decide top 5 submission for public vote
5. On November 21 the finalist will be announced and voting will take place for the next 7 days (Nov 28)
6. There will be 3 methods of voting: (1) Tweet Title and #MIbackground to @WonderMichigan (2) Comment at WonderMichigan Facebook page with title of submission (3) Vote contest page at WonderMichigan.com  You may vote once per day per method
7. The background chosen will be displayed on WonderMichigan.com and will get a $100 Visa Gift Card.
8. The theme for the contest is “What makes Michigan Great”
9.  Background must include elements of Michigan
10. Please do not use any copyrighted images
11. Backgrounds must be original
12. To track nominations please use hashtag #MIbackground

Noah Babcock is the principle owner of NxtGen Marketing along with editor of WonderMichigan.  He is the proud father of twin boys, avid Michigan State supporter, and huge Detroit sports fan.

My love for Michigan is three fold; I love the Michigan of the past.  The memories that I have from growing up in Michigan have shaped me into the person that I am today.  It has allowed me to have many experiences and adventures that no other place in America allows.  The present day Michigan has allowed me to fulfill my lifelong goals and dreams.  And the Michigan of the future is the motivation that I use to continue to better myself and my family.

I grew up hearing stories about Detroit from my grandparents.  The Detroit of the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s was a place of wonder.  I would listen to tales of working downtown having lunches at Joe Muers, and dinners at the London Chop House.  Shopping at Hudson’s downtown and watching Lions football in the freezing cold in the fall and basking in the sunshine watching Tigers baseball.  This was the time to be in Detroit.  My family made Detroit their home during this time.  Both my grandfather’s built own businesses in Detroit.  One had a small chain of furniture stores located throughout the city, while the other built an industrial laundry business.  The Midwestern blue collar work ethic has been passed down to throughout the generations.  I am the third generation to start a business in Michigan.  My own memories of Michigan are of the Bob-lo boat and island, Belle Isle Aquarium, Huckleberry Railroad, Detroit Zoo, Trappers Alley, and Tigers Stadium.  Some of these places from my childhood only exist in my memories now.  Present day Michigan has new places to explore and enjoy.

As I write this post today, the travel campaign of the early 80’s of Yes Michigan, which had a tag line of “the feeling is forever” comes to mind.  Everything that I have accomplished is because of Michigan.  I received a great education from Michigan State University and Oakland University.  The work ethic that I picked up my parents and grandparents, along with the blue collar culture of Michigan’s workforce has allowed me to fulfill my dream of starting and running my own business.  I met my wife in Michigan and we were blessed this past year to start our own family in Michigan, now I get to share all the wonders of Michigan with my family.  The pure beauty of Michigan allows me to enjoy hikes up north, great wine, beautiful lakes, and amazing golf.  Present day Michigan may be having a few problems, but there is so much to look forward to in the future.     

I am a dreamer, when I look at Michigan; I see all the potential that is around the state.  Michigan has more to offer then most other states in the country.  We have a natural resource in our lakes that no other state has.  With the proposed Aerotropolis around Metro Airport Michigan has the opportunity to become a hub for any company that is looking to produce products and ship them not only nationally but internationally.  If the shrinking of Detroit happens, there is going to be another resource around a major city that is not available in any other state in our country.  Detroit will have an abundance of land that can be used for whatever a person can think of.  A large company looking to build a new manufacturing plant, urban farming, research facility that needs a lot of space, the options are endless.  The last resource that Michigan has that ties all these together is the large amount of higher education that could be the feeder for any company that is in Michigan, and also the feeder for eager college graduates that are looking to start their own thing.  The Michigan of the future is whatever we want it to be there are very few places that have such an opportunity.  My third reason that I love Michigan is because I see a bright future that I am excited to participate in. 

I love Michigan because it is my past, present, and future.  Michigan is in my blood, it is who I am.

This summer, I got addicted to “The Great Food Truck Race” on the Food Network.  It was amazing to me that some much amazing food could come out of a truck.  I had always imagined a food truck like the ones in the movies on a construction site, where all the food comes in plastic.  I have been told that in Los Angeles their are great food trucks, and the food is worth searching for.  I found out about a month ago that Michigan has it’s first food truck, compliments of Chef Wes, who has worked in Las Vegas has returned home to start Jacques Tacos.

I had been searching for last two weeks, checking http://www.jacquestacos.comto see where the truck was going to be, and if I was going to be able to make it out to check out the food.  Well finally on Saturday, I hunted the truck down on 13 mile and Woodward at Varsity Automotive, to try what a food truck was all about.  I ordered two beef (D-Town) and two chicken tacos (Bulldog).  They were really good, fresh and very tasty.  The tacos were $2.50 a piece and for a snack where on the money.  Each taco comes with your choice of meat (pork, beef, chicken, avocado) corn salsa, cheese and guacamole. If you are around an area where Jacques Taco Truck is, it is well worth your time to stop in and try the food.

I can’t believe that Wonder Michigan is turning  1 year old.  Did Wonder Michigan live up to everything that I wanted it too?  I started this journey with A Marathon is Won with the First Stepand have tried to experience all that Michigan has to offer.  Just as the state that we love, we are not perfect, but am really working to be better.  It took a little bit of time to find our voice, we did not post as much as we would have liked.  Although on average we did post about once a week, there still where many lags in our post.  The passion is still here.  We have encountered many new Michigan businesses that we did not know exist a year ago.   There have been many proud moments for the Great Lakes State in the past year.  We have enjoyed Wonderful Michigan wines and beers, eaten at some amazing Michigan restaurants, made delecious food from Michigan products, and met some amazing people who are working to make this a better state. 

I am so excited to see what the next year has in store.  I am looking forward to exploring more of the Wonder of Michigan.  There are many things that I look forward to trying out, and also many new businesses that are opening in Michigan every week, that are going to help rebuild our beloved state.  Michigan is a little better, the auto companies are looking healthier, but there are still too many people out of work.  2010-11 will be a big year for Michigan, we have an election coming up, many other exciting events coming to the state.  Hopefully you will come a long for the ride with me to see the Great State of Michigan.

Beer. Food. Music. Three of everyone’s favorite necessities and Real Detroit Weekly, in association with Liquid Events and the Royal Oak Chamber of Commerce, is combining the three in the spirit of Germany’s Oktoberfest with Beer Fest 2010. Patrons can sip their way across the continents via 80 beverages from around the world. Beer Fest will feature Michigan made products, local restaurants, and music.

For years Tender in Downtown Birmingham Michigan, was a place that my wife spends lots of money.  It is a very fashion forward store, that carries the some of the best brands and fashions in Michigan.  Again this is what my wife tells me.  Well this morning while reading the “The Detroit Blog” they had a post titled “One to Watch: Karen Daskas on Buying Local“.  I have a new found appreciation for Karen Daskas now.  It is very refreshing to hear a local  business owner, who is not only working on staying in Michigan, but also working to make Michigan a better place.  In Karen Daskas’s view, we should try to shop at local independent stores, but she takes it a bit further by also stating that if you are going to shop at a chain store, do it in Michigan.  Ms. Daskas stated ”Quite simply, if you can’t find it here, it simply doesn’t exist.”  I applaud Tender and Karen Daskas for their pride in Michigan, and even better, I am now going to suggest that my wife shop at Tender when she can. 
http://detroit.blogs.time.com/2010/01/06/one-to-watch-karen-daskas-on-buying-local/

Every year, I try to make a New Years Resolution, that makes my life better.  Lose weight, cut down on cuss words, drop other bad habits that I have picked up over the years.  This year, I want to  make Michigan a better place to live and work.  I am born and raised in Michigan, educated here, and have a great life in Michigan.  I set out six months ago to spread the positives aspect of Michigan to the world.  Even I have been pleasantly surprised by all the great events, businesses, and people that I have found while working to spread the positives of Michigan.  So for this year my New Years Resolution is to continue my quest of showing what Michigan really has to offer the world, but I also am looking to this year to make a positive mark on the state, either through the businesses that I work with on a daily basis, by donating to Charities that help move Michigan forward, and to make a concentrated effort to buy products that are grown or manufactured in Michigan.  What are you going to make Michigan a better place to work and live?

  There are many great organizations that are set up to help the unemployed to retrain for jobs, beautify areas of the state that have gone ignored for too long, or to invest in Michigan based businesses.  Concentrate on purchasing Michigan grown and manufactured products.  Try to shop at your local Michigan owned stores.  When talking to someone from out of town, speak positively about Michigan.  The key is to find something that you are passionate about, and find a way to make Michigan a better place.  Next year hopefully we will be talking about all the great strides that Michigan has made over the last 365 days.

Detroit does not have a good reputation in the national media.  Over the last four days it has not gotten any better.  Somehow an idiot gets through security in Holland, and tries to ignite a homemade bomb on a flight that just so happends to be landing in Detroit, and all the sudden all the media has to come to Detroit.  They show the security lines in Detroit, and talk about our policies.  Add this to Detroit leading the nation in unemployment, and Detroit just can’t get a break.  Look Detroit is not perfect  by any means, and this city has its work cut out for it.  But it does not deserve to have only the negative parts reported.  The state of Michigan has been very successful with their “Pure Michgian” campaign.  I think it is time for Detroit to start a positive campaign.  The first thing that comes to mind is the Channel 7 WXYZ TV commercials that touted “Stand up for Detroit”.  At least it is a good start.

The Michigan house of representatives voted on Thursday December 17th to give the “Pure Michigan” ad campaign 40 million dollars to continue the campaign.  They plan on funding this through collection from car rentals, and other tourism related businesses.

Anyone who has watched television, listened to the radio, or drove anywhere in the mid-west, has seen these cleaver ads, touting the beauty of Michigan.  I could do without the voice overs from Tim Allen.  The Michigan tourism is an $18.1 billion-a-year industry, employing  192,000 people which generates $874 million annually in state tax revenues.  According to Steve Yencich, president and CEO of the Michigan Lodging & Tourism Association, every $1 that Michigan spends on tourism promotion, generates $2.87 in tax revenue.  This means that the 10 million dollar increase in the Pure Michigan campaign should add an additional 28.7 million dollars in tax revenue. 

Pure Michigan is a great campaign, and I hope that this bill does get through the senate, and it continues.  It has won awards and has shown to increase tourism in Michigan even over the past year, we have seen an increase in tourism.  I sometimes wonder how much of that increase is from Michigan residents, but either way it has succeeded in what it set out to do.  One issue I do have is, with the increase in tax income for the state, what is it going to go towards.   Pure Michigan has been very successful, I would like to see the extra tax income from tourism to be used for education and to increase Michigan’s viability to bring in companies to Michigan.  Michigan has been very successful with their movie tax credits, why not take some of the money and fund a tax credit for companies that are growing in Michigan, or starting offices in Michigan. As these companies increase jobs in the state, they would bring in more taxes from the newly employed, along with making Michigan a more friendly business state.  Another place that some of the increase in tax dollars needs to go is in to education.  For Michigan to have a strong future, we need in invest in our students.  Michigan needs to look at the Pure Michigan campaign as a spring board to bring Michigan back to the leader that it should be.