The quaint beauty and quiet majesty of the Grand Old City was captured on video Tuesday, as area videographer Rick O’Rourke stopped by Dowagiac that day to film footage for CGI Communication’s upcoming series of videos about the city.

O’Rourke stopped by several local landmarks and destinations, such as the downtown train station, Southwestern Michigan College and several of the city’s sculptures, capturing the sights for the video project. His footage will be spliced together with photos provided to CGI for the final videos, which will feature interviews and narration by several local officials.

Over the next several weeks, editors with the marketing firm will edit everything together and submit to the city for final approval. According to the city, the approved cut of the videos will then be posted online for the public to watch, made available on the city website and well as its YouTube and Facebook pages.

As we reported on several months ago, the city partnered with CGI for the videos, which will be used to attract visitors — and new residents — to our community. The best part of the deal is that the city will not have to pay a single cent for the project, as CGI will pick up the tab, with advertisements with local businesses helping offset the estimated $25,000 price tag.

If a picture is said to say a thousand words, then a couple videos must say an entire book’s worth about a particular subject, and there is plenty to say about Dowagiac.

Be it our dedication to our local schools, our love of the fine arts or our unique, small town, there is a lot to love about Dowagiac. However, being miles away from a major highway or interstate, sometimes we can feel quite isolated from our neighbors.

Through these videos, hopefully our beloved city can capture a few extra glances from nearby tourists, who will no doubt enjoy our assortment of annual festivals, our nearby lakes and walking trails or our great local restaurants and shops.

In addition, perhaps people looking to relocate will be impressed by the district’s upcoming plans to renovate our school buildings or by the quality of life of our residents.

We’re glad the city opened its doors for crews with CGI, and we hope that everything that makes our community special is showcased to our neighbors and beyond. We’re looking forward to seeing what CGI comes up with later this summer.

 

Opinions expressed are those of the editorial board consisting of Publisher Michael Caldwell and editors Ambrosia Neldon, Craig Haupert, Ted Yoakum and Scott Novak.