Dowagiac Community Editor John Eby went to South Bend for Easter and all his brother-in-law wanted to talk about was the new casino opening.
This week such publications as the Battle Creek Enquirer and Grand Rapids Business Journal slid Four Winds Dowagiac and its community before a region full of potential customers, expanding the Grand Old City’s reach.
Why would Grand Rapids Business Journal care about a “satellite” gaming facility opening here?
Because it’s part of Michigan’s largest tribal casino business.
Four Winds further fortifies the home of next month’s Dogwood Fine Arts Festival as a destination.
Dowagiac, as the Pokagon Band’s tribal headquarters at Rodgers Lake in Pokagon Township, enjoys a relationship that transcends gambling.
The tribe delivers health, cultural preservation, education and child care from various locations around town, a central location serving 4,500 citizens.
As a brand, rather than a band, the Pokagons are very reliable in what they stand for, such as the housing developments nestled in the forest off Dailey Road, near Southwestern Michigan College.
When Commissioner Bob Wagel tried to articulate the kind of modern office building Cass County needs to house its employees in rather than the 1899 courthouse, he pointed to the Pokagons’ green community center, 27043 Potawatomi Trail, northwest of the intersection of Dailey with Peavine Street.
Last November, the tribe announced a $6.5 million housing investment that created 188 construction jobs to add 16 townhouses and 16 duplexes for a total of 66 houses this summer that will be a model for potential development in South Bend.
Likewise, we expect great things from this harbinger of spring, Four Winds Dowagiac, when it opens at noon April 30.