In this story:

• Businesses and organizations in the Mount Pleasant area are invited to show their CMU pride by displaying special "Paint the Town Maroon" signs, posters, stickers and more.
• Paint the Town Maroon is an initiative of the Community Relations Committee, a 28-member organization representing local businesses, nonprofit organizations, public entities and CMU.
• The Fire Up and Find It MTP Challenge, a smartphone app-based scavenger hunt, rewards participants for visiting establishments throughout Mount Pleasant.

Businesses and organizations in Mount Pleasant are about to get a maroon and gold makeover. Beginning this month, “Paint the Town Maroon” kits will be distributed to local businesses and nonprofit organizations in hopes of spreading a little Fired Up energy through the city ahead of the first Central Michigan University home football game. 

The Paint the Town Maroon initiative was the brainchild of members of the Community Relations Committee, a group comprised of CMU employees and local civic and business leaders. The group wanted to find a new way to draw deeper connections between the CMU campus community and the greater Mount Pleasant community.

“The city of Mount Pleasant and Central Michigan University literally grew up together,” said Marcie Otteman, co-chair of the Community Relations Committee and deputy chief alumni relations and constituent engagement officer at CMU. “Mount Pleasant was incorporated as a city in 1889, and CMU was established in 1892. Our city and our university are dependent upon one another, and we want to showcase the ways we support one another.”

The first Paint the Town Maroon effort was a pair of digital billboards on Mission Street to welcome students and families back to Mount Pleasant, which went live in mid-August. 

The Paint the Town Maroon kits, which will go out in September, will include special CMU t-shirts, stickers, posters, yard signs and decals that businesses can display to show their CMU pride, said Chris Rowley, executive director of the Mt. Pleasant Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. Rowley serves as co-chair of the Community Relations Committee and a member of the Paint the Town Maroon team. 

“Displaying these items on store fronts and windows and wearing the shirts on game days is an easy way for Mount Pleasant community members to show their CMU pride,” Rowley said. 

Rowley and Otteman said kits will be delivered to local businesses in early-to-mid September, with hopes that Mount Pleasant will be painted maroon ahead of CMU’s first home football game on September 20.

Fire Up and Find It MTP Challenge

This week, the Community Relations Committee and the Mt. Pleasant Area Convention and Visitors Bureau are also launching the “Fire Up and Find It MTP Challenge.” The app-based challenge is a Mount Pleasant-area scavenger hunt for CMU students, faculty and staff and local community members, Rowley said. 

Built and hosted on the Meet Mt. Pleasant app, the challenge encourages visitors to check in at 30 local businesses, restaurants, attractions, shops, and campus locations. Participants are eligible for prizes, including gift cards to local stores and restaurants; those who complete the most check-ins could win a special Mount Pleasant Experience package. 

“It’s a fun way for visitors and residents to explore everything CMU and the Mount Pleasant community have to offer,” Rowley said.

The Fire Up and Find It MTP Challenge begins September 2 and runs through CMU’s Homecoming celebration, ending Sunday, October 26.  Winners will be notified by email 

The Paint the Town Maroon initiative was one of 27 projects funded by Go Grants, and is the first major event project of the Community Relations Committee. Participants are invited to share photos and videos using the hashtags #PaintTheTownMaroon, #LifeAtCentral and #MeetMtP. 

Go Grants in Action is a year-long series that shares the stories of how CMU students, faculty and staff are making a positive impact on the people and communities we serve through the Go Grants initiative.