It’s September! It’s school supplies season! Since we can’t send everyone a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils, we can at least send you the Sun!
☀️The Creamery Co.
by Maggie Rothenberger
The Creamery Co. is a delightful Marysville gathering place, established in 2015, and situated just a few doors down from Crisitano’s. The shop originally offered mostly frozen yogurt, but now as you enter, sweet smells drift towards you from pastries baked from scratch on site, and the coffees whipped up by a barista. To the right of the main bar, a new shop called The Mercantile Co. boasts a variety of fun products, from chapsticks to jewelry to plants to a variety of honeys and sauces. In the main room, even on a slow day, there’s a trickle of local customers, coming to enjoy a treat or just work in the comfortable environment for a little. Overall, it’s a delightful place for the community to gather.
Despite a hectic day, Rickelle Pegrum, the owner, carved out some time to meet me in the shop and be interviewed. She and Michelle Allard, the manager, actively greeted all entering customers, and exchanged familiar conversation with a few regulars. The atmosphere was welcoming and warm, something Rickelle took away from her extensive experience working for Nordstrum. “We really want to underpromise and overdeliver; it’s not just a froyo shop,” she said.
The Creamery Co. is actively involved in the community, whether that means partnering with the police and fire departments, reaching out to the city council and Mayor Nehring, or working with a local high school program that mentors special needs students as they prepare to enter the workforce. Rickelle loves the community, including offering support to other local businesses with encouragement and advice.
When I asked what they love about Marysville in particular, Rickelle highlighted that she can’t believe she’s only lived here for ten years, since the community and city drew her in so well. Michelle said, “Marysville has a small town feel, with expansive growth ideas. We can thing outside the box, but keep our small town heart.”
One of the company’s main goals is to be a safe and welcoming place for the community to gather, whether that’s to peruse their shop, meet with friends, or grab a delicious treat. Plus, if you see a need in Marysville for a new business opportunity, The Creamery Co. is a great place to start looking for advice! The atmosphere is warm and kind, the yogurt is delicious, and visiting is a great way to invest in the community.
☀️It Doesn’t Add Up
On August 24th President Biden announced his plan to rob Peter to pay Pell Grants. Such federal action is not “student loan relief” regardless of how the White House markets it. It’s not relief at all, it’s a rip-off.
Now it turns out that a max of $20k of debt can be “forgiven,” but that’s only to Pell Grant recipients with loans held by the Department of Education. Most would see just a $10k reduction, which is not nothing, yet also not enough to cover the average debt for those who graduated college in 2019-20 which is $28,400.
Whether or not this plan survives legal challenges, we can be sure that the Administration will do something more ridiculous soon (oh, like saying “MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic”). Maybe we should keep our heads down anyway, think about positive things, local things, Marysville things. We should.
But math is everywhere, and we should #MMGA - Make Math Great Again.
In Henry Hazlitt’s classic book, Economics in One Lesson, he explained the bottom line:
“The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.”
Hazlitt identified the category of “emotional economics” in which feel-good theories write checks that reality can’t cash. When I said that student loan “relief” is a rip-off, I mean that it’s a fraud, a flimflam, a hustle. It does not eliminate debt payments, it transfers those payments to others. It turns all tax-payers into co-signers without their permission; what if I don’t want to self-identify as a co-signer?! The immediate effect is to gorge the higher education beast and the long term effect is to gouge what little remaining hopes we had for the typical college graduate.
☀️Later This Month
The Marysville Brew & Cider Fest 2022, Saturday, September 10, at the Marysville Opera House. The Facebook event page is here, and you can purchase tickets here.
Jazz Night in The ‘Ville, Monday, September 26, at 5 Rights Brewing Company. Doors open at 5:00pm, with a suggested cover charge of $7/person but kids/students are welcome for free.
☀️Friday Fun…?
Watch these. You decide if they look fun.