When I was in my early 20s I learned that the City had received funding via a “Cool Cities” grant. I was excited because if anyone knows what made Alpena cool, it would be a 20-something-year-old right?

I remember talking to my career mentor about it at the time. The money was going to be used to update a park, put in benches, and update street lamps. At the time, efforts were being put toward things that would make Alpena attractive to young adults (something we’re still doing today in the desire to appeal to the Millennial generation workforce). I was floored. This was not “my” idea of a cool city project. Benches, street lamps and making a park better?

Having grown up in Alpena, traveling, and coming back, I thought I had a pretty solid idea of what would make Alpena more fun and it did not include these things. Clearly a side effect of my age and place in life at the time, I was confused about how the proposed ideas would make Alpena more appealing. Fortunately, I had a mentor who was able to present information that forced me to investigate and form a greater understanding on my own. He started with a question, what would you look for when considering a move to a new city?

This encouraged me to look at Alpena as a non-resident. As locals, we have our favorite places in the Alpena area. We take much of the landscape for granted because we’ve been looking out the same window for most of our lives. We have our ideas of what we’d like to see happen in the area; for some that notion is a Red Lobster, for others it is better access to Lake Huron. Sometimes we are too close to Alpena to see her clearly.

Assuming I had a job opportunity lined up, some of the main things I would look for to complete my decision to move included proper maintenance and upkeep of buildings because that would indicate active commerce, an emphasis on safety, and sustainability. I would look for things I could do when not working including hiking and walking paths, beaches, and greenspace parks because that would mean it was a community that cared about the environment and the well-being of people that lived there. I would look for authentic charm — that fit the community and was not manufactured — friendliness, welcoming atmosphere, places to congregate. I also would want access to appealing local culture (art, history, etc.), with local being the keyword.

At that point I was answering my own question. My mentor said that in order for a community to keep young people, attract new residents or visitors, and appeal to new development, it needs to look authentic and appealing. As such, nice benches, attractive street lamps, and beautiful well-kept park lands are critical to the value of the community.

This is similar to selling a home and your Realtor tells you to repair damage, spruce up landscaping, and stage furniture so people can see how nice it could look to live in. Much of what makes Alpena attractive to newcomers whether they be visitors, potential residents, returning natives, or business developers, are those very simple things that we may have trouble seeing because we are too close to properly focus.

Fast forward to today and I’m gaining a better understanding of the answer to this question each year. Alpena offers a charm that honors our history, but doesn’t leave us stuck in the past, all embraced with a blanket of the beautiful natural environment. Strip away all the things we have that other cities also have, and you’re left with what makes Alpena a cool community.

No other city has the wealth of natural resources for recreation opportunity that we have. This extends far beyond the city center and includes the activity that can be had within all our county/township parks, the surrounding 43,000-plus acres of state forest land, more than 100 accessible bodies of water, along more than 1,000 miles of shoreline, and more than 100 miles of groomed trails.

Recently I’ve heard quite a few people questioning our value. Nobody decides to invest in Alpena as a residence, vacation spot, or business placement because we have their favorite chain business. A mix of homegrown business and national familiarity is important but our magic is in our environmental opportunity.

What makes Alpena a cool city? We have a higher proportion of access to outdoor recreation area per capita than most other communities our size.

Close your eyes for a moment and take away our parks, lakes, rivers, forests, trails, and beaches and envision what kind of community we are left with. You’ll soon see that these items are the foundation of our economy and the lifeblood of our appeal.

Mary Beth Stutzman’s Inspiring A-Town runs bi-weekly on Tuesdays. Follow Mary Beth on Twitter @mbstutz.