Byrne Electrical Specialists hosts open house at Pickle Docks facility
by Meghan Nelson – The Daily News
LAKEVIEW — Byrne Electrical Specialists held an open house Saturday to showcase their new Lakeview location, named the Pickle Docks in honor of its history.
Kay and Karl Thompson of Mecosta came out to support their daughter who works for the company and to see the transformation of the old pickle processing plant.
“We actually worked here when it was the pickle docks,” Kay said.
In 1907, the Michigan Pickle Company owned the land. In the 1930s, the Michigan Pickle Company’s Lakeview facility was America’s largest independent pickle producer, according to information presented at Byrne’s open house.
In 1966, Heinz Company purchased the pickle operations. That’s when the Thompsons and several other Lakeview residents at the open house worked at the pickle docks. Chris Maddox, plant manager, said there are even some employees who now work for Byrne who previously worked at the old pickle docks.
“It was storage facility for pickles. They had tons of vats they would use to store them in,” Kay said.
According to Maddox, the plant was shut down in the 1970s and the brownfield site was vacant until Byrne Electrical Specialists and The Right Place stumbled across the site while looking at expansion possibilities.
“It was an empty spot on a beautiful location,” Byrne Director of Operations John Willcox said. “There wasn’t really another option than putting manufacturing here, so we thought it was perfect fit.”
At Saturday’s open house, part of the walk-through included history of the pickling companies who had plants on the property. Byrne even offered pickles from the original pickle dock barrels, which are now used at Grandpa Harrison’s Pickles in Edmore.
Part of preserving the memory of the pickle docks is a result of how important community is to Byrne. The open house was part of integrating the company into the Lakeview community.
“(The open house) is an open invitation to make sure everyone knows who we are and we’re a part of the community,” said Director of Information Technology Nick Sims.
The importance of community played a role in the move to Lakeview as well.
“When we moved to Rockford in 1979, there were a lot of employees who were commuting to downtown Grand Rapids from Rockford, and we decided to head up closer to them,” Managing Director Dan Byrne said.
The perks of moving to Lakeview parallel the move to Rockford. Several Lakeview-area residents had been commuting to the Rockford plant to go to work, but now they are able to commute just down the road.
“There used to be a few wire harness manufacturers in this area,” said Director of Marketing and Sales Matt Wieringa. “When Frigidaire went to Mexico, those people all came to Byrne looking for electrical type jobs. One of the reasons we chose this was because people now have a five-minute commute to work, and we have an instant work force ready to go.”
According to Byrne, the Pickle Docks has been operating for around six weeks and has 38 employees. He hopes to grow the workforce to around 50 by the end of the year. He also hopes to build community and culture in and with the Lakeview area.
