The mission of the Madison County Economic Development Council is to enhance business and economic development in Madison County in a manner that respects our recreational, environmental, and cultural interest.

The purpose of this corporation shall be to assist business enterprises, create employment opportunities, combat community deterioration and to assist in the development of projects, undertakings, studies and other activities in cooperation or coordination with local governmental, civic bodies and other groups, corporations or individuals to aid, assist, and foster the planning, re-planning, development, renewal, re-development, and improvement of Madison County, Montana.

Projects of the Madison County Economic Development Council

During the summer of 2009 these unique works of art were sold at a live auction. You can still find a few located throughout the Ruby Valley. "Fish Out Of Water" was a project designed to bring added value to Madison County, added awareness and appreciation for art, and to raise funds to be divided between the Madison County Economic Development Council and local charities in the area of where the sculptures were displayed.

Though the auction has been over for a long while, you can visit the beautiful outcome of it on the streets of various towns in Madison County!

To learn about the Fish out of Water sculptures to benefit Sheridan Click here To learn about all of the Fish out of water sculpture Click here to go to a Madison County Economic Development page designed for you to be able to learn about each individual sculpture.

Grant WINNERS Strategic Planners

The new $10.5 million Madison Valley Hospital is under construction. It is the largest project in Madison valley history. We raised more than $4 million and helped negotiate $6.5 million in debt financing. From 2005 to 2007, we competed for six grants and won four which brought nearly $40,000 into Madison County . We completed our own Strategic Plan as well as one for Montana Black and, our biggest client to date, for the new Madison Valley Hospital. How about for you? We're finding buyers for real, totally local, healthy and natural Madison County beef. This project gives our local ranchers an option to the commodity market. Lord knows, they need an alternative market.

Business Consulting Do you have a plan for success?

Whether it is business development, financial planning, or marketing, a solid plan is critical to the success of any project. What does your future hold?

Montana Black The Next Level

The soft launch is over. Now, we need to get Montana Black into as many homes and businesses as possible. We're ready to market.

The Madison County Economic Development Council (MCEDC) has launched Montana Black, a branded beef program for Montana ranchers. In its first phase, this program has been selling fat cattle sourced in Madison County to beef customers in Southwest and Central Montana. Its long-range plan is to source cattle statewide for sales throughout Montana, national markets, and international markets.

This program has two primary goals.

First, it will provide cow/calf ranchers with an alternative to the commodity market by paying premium prices for locally raised, natural fat cattle. These prices will profitably compensate ranchers for retaining their calves and managing them to market weight within Montana rather than selling them as young calves into the feedlots of the Midwest. The live weight prices paid are directly correlated to what the market for Montana fresh beef can bear. The Ranchers’ First pricing model, which calculates these live weight prices, is described in detail in this grant proposal.

Second, this program will offer local food businesses and household consumers the quite rare option of purchasing locally raised, natural Montana beef. Commodity beef is not Montana beef. Feedlot beef is not Montana beef even if the cattle happened to be sourced from Montana. The goal of Montana Black is to provide verifiable, high quality, locally raised and natural Montana beef to the marketplace.

Hospital Builders What's Next?

When you help build a $10 million community facility, you learn a lot. We're ready to do it again for other Madison County communities.

Fund Raising The Art of Raising Money

Large scale fund raising should not be a volunteer effort. It is a professional endeavor. Do you have a large-scale project in the works?

The Tourism Dollar Two Days More Campaign

Look around! Madison County has an abundance of natural resources. More than 1,000,000 people visit every year. Let's get them to stay just two days more. What kind of economic impact would that have?

Wind Power Making Money From Our Wind

We all know that we have wind. We also have interested energy developers coming to Madison County. This one is for real. Let's get it started.

Fish Out of Water

This is a county wide art project. Trout, one of our precious natural resources, will be painted and placed around the county. One year later, we will auction them off for local charities.

Madison River Marathon

There are six marathons in Montana. We want to host the 7th. The route is along the banks of the Madison. The Madison Marathon might be the toughest race of the year for the athletes. It may also be the most beautiful with expansive ridge top views, complete with thin Rocky Mountain air.

For more info call (406) 682-5923 or VISIT THEIR WEBSITE.