“They did more business over the Stars Hollow weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, than their other location did the entire month of August.”
Wait, what? A Gilmore Girls fan event in Brighton, Michigan, a town of perhaps 7,700 people, drew an estimated 60,000 people over three days. Think about that: a pop culture gathering, based on a show that ended years ago, became an economic event so massive it attracted visitors from across the country, Canada, and even as far away as Iceland. Nicole Paine, Business Development Manager at Lake Trust Credit Union, recounts the sheer wildness of being on the ground, witnessing a crisis of success that left local businesses reeling.
Host Sarah Snell Cooke, of The Credit Union Connection, sat down with Nicole to figure out exactly how a small American town coped with a tidal wave of fans creating a sudden, massive demand for inventory and staffing. The credit union quickly realized their traditional sponsorship wasn’t enough. These businesses, suddenly facing a Black Friday level crowd in late summer, needed capital immediately to capitalize on the chaos, not collapse under it. Their solution: a hyper specific, unconventional microloan program that became the lifeline for local shops.
The best part of this story isn’t the number of attendees; it’s the pure logistics of survival. Nicole explains that a few local spots were able to use the quick turnaround funds to hire extra staff and pay overtime. The Spice and Tea Exchange, one of the retailers that took out a loan, was able to buy specialized boxes and ramp up inventory, avoiding a stockout during the busiest weekend they’d ever seen. Think about that pressure: last year, businesses had to use their holiday buy funds to meet the surprise Stars Hollow demand, shorting themselves for the actual holiday season. This year, the credit union’s financial support helped them keep those crucial holiday funds intact.
This is where the finance gets deeply personal. Nicole reveals that the microloan is unique because it’s a personal loan for business purposes. It’s designed specifically for small businesses that don’t have access to traditional capital, utilizing the owner’s personal income or schedule C. The average borrow for the event was between $10,000 and $15,000, just enough for open buy or payroll. Lake Trust literally became the “Stars Hollow Credit Union” for the weekend, as Nicole puts it, proving that being a genuine community partner means having the most unconventional product available at the most chaotic moment. For Sarah and Nicole, the takeaway is clear: this is the “credit union difference” in practice, moving past “slapping your name on something” to getting “in the trenches” to support entrepreneurs.
NOTE: The below AI-generated transcript ate your AI-generated transcript for lunch.
Sarah Cooke
Alrighty, hello and welcome everybody. I am Sarah Snell Cooke, your host here at The Credit Union Connection. I’m here today with Nicole Paine, welcome. Thank you. As you can tell, she’s from Lake trust, credit union that’s up in Michigan, and she’s the Business Development Manager there. Why don’t you tell us a little bit more about yourself and Lake trust.
Nicole Paine
Oh, goodness. So I am Nicole. I am one of two business development managers for the credit union. We are statewide charter in the state of Michigan. Have over 25 locations, 2.6 billion in assets. I’ve actually been with the organization over nine years coming on 10 and like, in that weird space where it’s like, I’m not sure which one to say, but really great organization, both to be a member of and to be a teammate of, yeah,
Sarah Cooke
that’s always a great working situation culture when that jives with who you are. So you guys reached out to me because you sponsor this event called destination Stars Hollow, and that event is intended to celebrate local businesses, and it attracts more than 40,000 people from across the country to Brighton, Michigan, which I was impressed.
Nicole Paine
That’s wild. It is wild. And I have so many, I wish we had a lot longer to talk, because I was there. I have some wild stories to tell you, but, yeah, it is a wonderful event, event, and rough estimates are that there was maybe close to 60,000 individuals this year over the three days.
Sarah Cooke
Wow. Yeah, that’s huge. Tell us, well, tell us a few of those crazy stories. Yeah.
Nicole Paine
So for those of you that don’t know, destination Stars Hollow is kind of based on the Gilmore Girls series that is beloved and kind of having a resurgence. Last year was the very first destination Stars Hollow, which did attract over 40,000 people. There was probably more. And I think just the love of this event, we actually realized that sponsorship was not going to be enough to help them with this event, so we had to come in at a community level. So we were there. We had a presence. Throughout the three days, I talked to some individuals from Iceland that came all the way to Brighton, Michigan. For this event, I talked to several people from California, which is a distance, lots of people from Indiana, Iowa. I think there was representation. They shared from all of the states, as well as Canada. And I actually when the individual from Iceland, when she told me where she was from, I asked her to repeat it, because I thought, No way. But what I think is amazing is the just everybody was there together, that the collaboration and the fellowship was awe inspiring, and so many people I talked to already booked their hotel rooms for next year.
Sarah Cooke
Nice. Now I didn’t make the Gilmore Girls connection. Thank you. It’s been a minute since I saw that. Yes. So Lake trust this year. You, you launched this multiplier effect. You, you started micro loans for the businesses that are participating in the event. What spawned that idea?
Nicole Paine
Well, I think I just touched on it and that we knew we had to be a holistic partner for the community. The idea of this was not just to bring Gilmore Girl lovers together, but really to foster business, kind of you know, typically that says slow time and retail right before you’re ramping up for the holiday. So to bring some life to the downtown, I don’t think anyone expected it to be this large, and we’re certainly grateful for it. Our micro loan program actually was launched in 2019 and it was born for circumstances kind of like this, where it’s special in the industry and that it’s a personal loan for the purpose of business, and it’s designed for small businesses that might not have access to capital otherwise, because we use their personal income or their schedule C, whatever that might be. And then, when you think about retailers during a slow time, and then all of a sudden you’re having 40,000 60,000 people coming, you need to actually ramp up on goods or food, whatever you might be. And where does that money come from? And so we walked alongside the organizers of the event, and said, How can we help? Here’s how we think we might be able to help. Some of these retailers have a really, really great, you know, Stars Hollow weekend. And one of the I was just in one of the retailers today, spice and tea exchange, and he shared that they did more. They have two locations. They did more. Business over the stars, Halloween, so Friday, Saturday, Sunday, then their other location did the entire month of August. But to do that, you have to have the inventory to do that. And so that’s where we stepped in. And there were some restaurants that were able to maybe bulk up their orders, actually, maybe do some payroll. We had retailers that utilized it to go out and open buy and get additional stars, hollow swag, because that’s what everybody was after. So now they can actually because what they use last year was their holiday funds set aside for their holiday buy, and then holiday was short, so now they were able to help them have the inventory that they need.
Sarah Cooke
Yeah, and that’s an amazing opportunity. You got 60,000 people coming to your town, which I’m not sure how many people know of. Brighton Mitch, no, well now they do, right? How many companies actually took out loans? And what were some of the, I mean, you mentioned, like, inventory, stuff like that. What were some of those loans for?
Nicole Paine
So we had six or seven businesses take advantage of it, and I think a couple of the retailers did go out and get some additional stars, hollow themed, you know, sweatshirts, what I mean, people were loving it. We did hear that they were able to bring in extra staff, maybe pay, you know, pay some overtime on their staff. We had some spice and tea. He also showed me, actually, he went out and got some special boxes for Stars Hollow that people could put their loose tea in. I think it also just gave them some breathing room to make sure that they could still run their daily operations and have the inventory they needed.
Sarah Cooke
Because they still have the stores open.
Nicole Paine
stuff to pay your utility bill and all of that.
Sarah Cooke
So I mean, I imagine this, obviously it’s a good deal for the credit union, but it’s also a great deal for the community as well to get together and truly do some economic development in the area. And so what were some of the feedback that you got from the small business owners?
Nicole Paine
So I mean, the business owners I mentioned, it was a game changer for them, because they weren’t sure how they were going to pull off day to day business Stars Hollow, and they’re buying right now for holiday honestly. So how do you do that all? Instead of, you know, robbing from Peter to pay Paul, we were able to allow them to generate I think so we became Stars Hollow Credit Union for the weekend, for the community, a lot of people thanked us. One of the things we gave away at our booth were gift cards, either Lake trust members or in the community. And we tried to go out to surrounding communities to try and drive business back, not just that weekend, but hopefully extend it a little more for sure.
Sarah Cooke
Yeah, that’s great. So how micro are we talking? What is a micro business loan? I know what a micro personal loan is. What’s a micro business loan?
Nicole Paine
So typically, in the ecosystem, a micro loan is going to be, generally under 50,000 when you start going over 50,000 you’re in the commercial space for Stars Hollow specifically, the average borrow was between 10 and 15,000 just enough again, to go out and do open, buy or pay some payroll. But we have some microloans that sit in the $1,000 range, depending. You know, maybe you’re a cleaning company and you need a certain piece of equipment or something has broken. So we try to meet our members where they are and provide the resources that they need in the moment.
Sarah Cooke
Absolutely, and what I really love about this is the show of community and the show of the credit union story, the real Credit Union Mission and the public relations halo effect, if you will, for doing something good in the community. And it’s genuine because it’s totally aligned with your credit union’s business and mission, as well as the area talk a little bit about that, any kind of like halo effect, if you will.
Nicole Paine
I think, if you just think in general, credit unions are founded on people helping people. And if you pull the curtain back, that’s really what this was about, right? It was, it was helping the community. And there really is what people talk about the credit union difference. I think this event highlights that again, we’re out in the community supporting businesses, not just saying, Let us sponsor and put our name on everything, but how can we dig in and get in the trenches and walk alongside you? You know small businesses are the heart of a thriving community, and we. Know that, and this, I mean, to make the same amount in three days as you do in 30 days at another location. That just tells you the difference that events like this can make. And you know, the you mentioned it earlier, the maximizing impact. So that cascades down. So they have suppliers, they have employers that now can go out and spend money in the economy as well. So it really is feeding into the credit union difference in Lake trust, we actually have a big goal of a world where everyone thrives, and we think, if we can support events like this, you know, we’re one step closer to that mission.
Sarah Cooke
Yeah, yeah. And it’s so much more than, like you said, slapping your name on something, throwing some money at an issue. But this is really, like in sleeves rolled up in the dirt, if you will, actually helping the businesses that, even more than the event does itself, yeah.
Nicole Paine
Yeah, which I, you know, I got, and you go back to the credit union difference, and it’s it is people helping people we live and work in the communities that we are. So we want all of these businesses and entrepreneurs and their employees to thrive, because that’s a huge piece of the puzzle, right.
Sarah Cooke
And those employees too small businesses have trouble making payroll at times.
Nicole Paine
Absolutely, absolutely. And each small businesses create an opportunity of generational wealth, opportunities that might not exist elsewhere. And so when you can support that, you’re not just helping that one business again, they’re going to have other providers. They’re going to have vendors. Really, the cascading impact is felt tremendously.
Sarah Cooke
Yeah, as a small business owner myself, I agree. So as we wrap up here, I always allow my guests to have the final thoughts here. What would you like to leave our credit union audience with?
Nicole Paine
Well, I’m not sure if I don’t think we covered it, we actually were awarded the Forbes best in state credit union. So we’re really proud. And I really do think it goes back to our mission of supporting overall well being and financial well being of our members, and taking steps towards a world where it thrives. We look for opportunities. And I love our microloan. I always say that it’s almost like my third child, because it really is special, and it really can make a difference deploying capital to those that might not otherwise have access to that capital
Sarah Cooke
Absolutely well. Thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate it. Nicole.
Nicole Paine
Thank you for having me. This was great.