It’s U.P. State Fair week. But it’s not just carnival rides and elephant ears. It also brings state leaders to the.

This year was special for Marquette County. Not just because Gov. Gretchen Whitmer visited and spent time with residents and community leaders — which in and of itself is a big deal — but because of the projects and community accomplishments she came here to promote.

Whitmer visited three notable places in the county Wednesday. Her first stop was to deliver the keynote address to graduates of the Upper Peninsula Construction Council’s Building Trades Summer Camp at the Carpenters and Millwrights Training Center in Negaunee Township.

“One of the things that we know is that an opportunity anywhere in the state you can find if you get into the trades,” Whitmer told the graduates. “You can get the skills you need and get paid while getting those skills. You have health care. You have retirement — all of the things that so many people are hoping for and praying for in other lines of work are incumbent and inherent in the grade, and that’s why making sure young people, and older people, know that there is a path to prosperity and dignity in work through the trades.”

Next, she celebrated with a sledgehammer at the former UP Health System — Marquette hospital property to kick off the demolition of the some of the buildings on the site. The $166 million plan to develop the 23-acre site has the distinction of being the largest community development project in Upper Peninsula history, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. The collaborative project was awarded $8 million from this year’s state budget to defray the cost of demolition and hazardous materials mitigation at the site.

Whitmer also stopped in the city of Negaunee, where she celebrated a $3 million award for the restoration of the Vista Theater.

“When we do these budgets and we talk in these big numbers … sometimes people lose sight of what it really means,” Whitmer said. “So to stand here in Negaunee to see the construction that is happening, to see the Vista, which is going to get new life breathed into it and create so many beautiful places, that’s what this work is about.”

We all know that there’s a long way to go when it comes to Lansing recognizing U.P. residents and making policy that helps them. But here at the Journal, we see these investments as an important first step.

Politics is often a thankless job. But right now, there are a lot of U.P. residents saying thank you to all the people who are making these projects happen.