Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but these tough economic times have meant many have been struggling. In the North Country many small businesses have been hard hit in recent years, but through hard work and innovation many are turning things around — and just yesterday the AP reported that Berlin is on the “cusp of a comeback.”

On Monday Annie and Team Kuster spent the day in Berlin, Gorham, and Littleton, sitting down with small business owners to talk about the challenges they face and the opportunities before them. Here are the highlights:

It was a beautiful morning for our early start in Berlin. We toured the Burgess Biomass Facility, which is currently under construction, and has created about 250 jobs. The plant is expected to open next year, and when it does it will be a 75 megawatt facility!

Next we visited Gorham Paper and Tissue. We visited the mill in 2010 before it reopened, putting 210 people back to work. Since then it has continued to grow, invested in a new tissue machine, and is creating new jobs for the North Country. A wonderful success story and a tribute to the hard work of Granite Staters! Click here for a feature on the company aired on NHPR earlier this year.

Over lunch we stopped at the White Mountain Cafe and Bookstore, where we met with local voters to talk about the issues they are facing. Given Saturday’s announcement, the discussion focused largely on their concerns about impacts of the Ryan budget plan on Medicare.

After lunch we traveled to Littleton for a tour of the Littleton Coin Company. This is one of the four biggest coin companies in the United States, and it now employs over 300 people! And of course our trip to the North Country wouldn’t have been complete without ice cream from Bishop’s Homemade in downtown Littleton!

We need to do everything we can to support New Hampshire small businesses so they can continue to innovate, grow and hire - to read Annie’s position on strengthening our economy, click here.