Traverse City bars and establishments are preparing for one of the busiest nights of the year tomorrow (Wednesday) for Thanksgiving Eve. At one downtown venue, two tech groups are teaming up to take advantage of the holiday traffic to make a personalized pitch to returning visitors to come home to northern Michigan – not just for the weekend, but for good.

TCNewTech and 20Fathoms will host a “Boomerang Party” at the Park Place Hotel and Conference Center from 5pm to 8pm Wednesday. The event is free to attend and includes a complimentary drink and hors d'oeuvres. Organizers drew approximately 200 attendees to the inaugural event last year on Thanksgiving Eve at The Workshop Brewing Company (pictured); this year, they expect double that turnout. In addition to promoting a festive social atmosphere at which locals and visitors can mingle and reconnect, the Boomerang Party will feature nearly a dozen tech and professional services companies looking to recruit talent, plus angel investors and venture capitalists. Promethient, Hagerty, Efulfillment Service, HealthBridge Financial, Coldwell Banker Schmidt, TentCraft, Boomerang Catapult, and Naveego are among those attending, with more companies expected to sign up through Wednesday.

The event is open to the public, but it's specifically geared toward welcoming home former residents living elsewhere who are visiting the region for the holidays. Traverse City is one of several cities in the state hosting boomerang events on Wednesday aimed at luring back residents – many of whom left their communities after college to pursue professional experiences elsewhere – to show off the career opportunities in Michigan. Ann Arbor, Lansing, Mt. Pleasant, Houghton, Kalamazoo, and several west Michigan cities are highlighted along with Traverse City on the Back to Michigan website, which promotes Thanksgiving events for “professionals who have made the trip home for the holiday and are considering relocating back to Michigan.”

Boomerangs, as the targeted demographic group is called, don’t fall into a defined age range but are typically adults who “grew up here in Traverse City or in the region and couldn’t find employment right out of college,” explains TCNewTech President Russell Schindler. “At that age, in your early twenties, you’re looking for adventure. Everyone tends to see their hometown as backwards then. So they move away, and then maybe 5, 10, 15 years later, they start thinking about raising a family. They think about having grandma and grandpa close for babysitting. They get to a point where they get nostalgic for home, and they desire that community again.”

One of the biggest hurdles for boomerangs considering returning home is quality employment – or a lack thereof. Matt Roney, who serves as community manager for 20Fathoms and is the incoming executive director of TCNewTech, has experienced that challenge firsthand. Leading the planning for the Boomerang Party, Roney is a boomerang himself – a Gaylord native and University of Michigan graduate who moved to Seattle to pursue a tech career with his fiancé, a Traverse City native. Tired of the cost of living in Seattle and being so far from family, the couple began researching ways to come home. 

“I was concerned about finding work – that was my biggest fear,” Roney admits. “I wasn’t sure what would be available here. I had that unease of, even if I got a job that fits, what if I don’t like it? What if it’s the only job here? What happens then?” Roney, who interviewed for the opening at 20Fathoms remotely via Google Hangouts, was hired and decided to take the plunge. “After getting here, I discovered that the level of opportunity here is way more than I expected. Our goal (for the Boomerang Party) is really just to make that clear – that this area is an option.”

Schindler says Roney’s story illustrates two messages his group hopes to highlight at the event: There are numerous employment opportunities in Traverse City, and there are opportunities for “the trailing spouse” as well. “Traverse City is an easy place to convince people to move because of the natural beauty of the area,” Schindler says. “But what makes people afraid to move is if one job doesn’t work out, you’ll be left high and dry. What really persuades people is having more than one opportunity…and we have that. We have more job openings than there are applicants right now at these employers.”

There’s also funding available for entrepreneurs or tech start-ups considering launching a new business or product. Casey Cowell, who recently spoke with The Ticker about his efforts to diversify Traverse City’s economy and attract more talent to the region, launched Boomerang Catapult to invest in exactly those types of scenarios. “Returning this talent to the TC area creates high economic value and positively contributes to the greater community,” the company’s website states. “Boomerang Catapult exists to invest in, partner with, and otherwise catapult these boomerangs forward in a manner that sustainably raises our economy as a whole.”

There are still challenges to attracting boomerangs, organizers acknowledge: The region’s housing shortage remains a hurdle, though tech professionals and other employees in high-paying industries can often shoulder that cost more easily than those in tourism-based jobs. But even for those potential boomerangs who can't or aren't quite ready to come home, TCNewTech and 20Fathoms hope to plant a seed this week that could later bloom into a move back to Traverse City.

“What I’d like (attendees) to take away is the knowledge that, should they consider leaving wherever they are, they can make a life and career in this area,” Roney says. “It might not be tomorrow. But when they’re ready, they know there’s a community that actively wants them and their skills, that wants to bring them home."