UPDATE

During the year 1992 the community of Idlewild witnessed the entrance of several new small business owners. Harrison R. Wilson, a longtime resident, was on the verge of retiring as Lake County Commissioner in order to provide the necessary leadership needed to nurture the Yates Township DART System.   Larry’s Nursery and Landscaping, owned by Larry and Judy Portis, was fully operational, so was Burns Construction Company, which is owned by former Yates Township Supervisor Norman R. Burns, the East Meets West Boutique, owned by James and Larnell Cox, as well as Morton’s Motel, owned by John O. Meeks.

The accomplishments of these new establishments may have been gradual signs of proof of economic development and rebirth in the community, but none were more significant than the community services to follow by Mr. John O. Meeks.  Having relocated to Idlewild from Detroit, after retiring from the Detroit Public School system and a successful dry cleaning business, Meeks purchased the old Morton Motel in Idlewild in 1989, and immediately began renovating it in 1991.   Being a visionary by seeing a need for motel accommodations in the community, Meeks was creative when he added a multi-purpose room to the 17-room motel with kitchenettes in ten of the units.  However, Meeks’ work did not end there.  He purchased a second motel in the area, and began to look for other ways to promote the community.   Darci McConnell, a staff writer for the Detroit Free Press, reported in December, 1996: Hoping to spark others’ interest, Meeks founded the Mid-Michigan Idlewilders and was able to get a charter through the national Idlewilders organization.   Mid-Michigan has since grown to a membership of one hundred active members, and a waiting list of fifty potential members wanting to join the organization.  By always working to promote Idlewild, Meeks, the founding president of the Mid-Michigan Idlewilders, who is now president emeritus of the group, recently took on to another pet project, which involves the redevelopment of a defunct chamber of commerce in Idlewild, an organization that was originally founded by Phil Giles of the Phil Giles Enterprise in the 1950s.

During the summer of 2000, Meeks founded the Idlewild African American Chamber of Commerce for the purpose of promoting existing local businesses and for attracting newer ones to the area.  Within a year’s time, the organization has grown under Meeks’ leadership from one to ten business members.