MILFORD, PA — Pike County again combined tourism and economic development, with the county economic development authority’s participation at the Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg this week.

Its website calls the annual nine-day show “the largest consumer event of its kind,” attracting visitors from seven states and the District of Columbia.

But Mike Sullivan, executive director of the Pike County Economic Development Authority (EDA), was more interested in some 1,000 exhibitors, many of whom will be manufacturers and distributors of outdoor equipment. He wanted to sell them on Pike County as a location to expand or relocate their businesses, Sullivan told the commissioners.

To that end, the EDA organized a February 10 luncheon in Harrisburg, to which all of those with products to sell were invited.

Sullivan credited Karl Wilgus of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau with helping EDA’s first effort at the show.

Guests would be welcomed and told of Pike’s advantages by guest speaker Justin Moon, president of Kahr Arms, the gun manufacturer which has relocated and will soon open its factory at the former county industrial park in Blooming Grove. “He’s going to talk about the wonderful reception he’s received in Pike County,” Sullivan said.

After the warm-up, luncheon guests were to receive a slick tri-fold “fact and figures” brochure loaded with census demographic data, information about schools and cultural activities and a regional locater map.

Sullivan also reported on several other EDA development efforts underway. He said his biggest challenge continues to be finding available sites.

One project, awaiting state approvals, involves senior care and a memory clinic and would employ 75 persons full-time and another 25 part-time. Pike has 110 beds for senior care of 19,000 seniors and is considered underserved by the state.

Another underserved area in Pike is grocery sales. Sullivan said two competing developers are proposing construction of a new supermarket in the vicinity of the state Route 739 and Log Tavern Road intersection. Sullivan said 9,000 households are within a seven-mile radius of the intersection, and American households, according to census figures, spend $35 to $50 million annually on groceries.

Commissioner Matt Osterberg referenced the data report Sullivan created for the supermarket proposal, saying it “compares to any report that might have been contracted costing thousands of dollars. The numbers are correct… Kudos to Mike Sullivan,” he said.

Additionally, Sullivan is working with a Rockland County, NY firm that has a process for internal recycling and reuse of water used in food processing, which could greatly reduce the output of waste water from related treatment plants. “They’re interested in opening a plant, going from patent to factory, tool and die, good stuff,” he said.