Perry, the seat of Taylor County in Florida’s Big Bend region, was once the tree capital of the country. For 70 years, it has hosted the Florida Forest Festival as a celebration of forestry and its history rooted in the town.
Now, between back-to-back hurricane hits and mill closures, Perry is the epicenter of the disruptions plaguing the timber market.
The town lost up to $500,000 of yearly utility payments when its Georgia-Pacific pulp mill shuttered in 2023. The closure also whisked around $3 million in tax revenue from the county wallet. (Rising property values and some new construction helped offset that shortfall, leaving a $1.9-million deficit.) The county-wide unemployment rate reached 6.8% in June, the second highest in the state at the time and far higher than the state average of 3.7%.
Dawn Perez, executive director of the Taylor County Chamber of Commerce, and Bob Cate, economic development coordinator of the Taylor County Development Authority, have joined forces to recultivate the local economy and bring jobs back. “I have people stop me on the street, literally,” says Cate, former plant manager of the Perry pulp mill. “They sometimes say, ‘Mr. Bob, we’re still praying for you to find us jobs, because I’m commuting every day to Tallahassee and I want to stay home.’”
They started in 2023 by trying to find a buyer for the shuttered pulp mill that could resume its operations. After four months of searching, Cate brought eight interested buyers to Georgia-Pacific. The company didn’t bite, and the investors walked away. By April 2024, Georgia-Pacific said it planned to dismantle and demolish the site. That demolition began in May.
Disappointed but undeterred, Perez and Cate have broadened their efforts to attract new businesses from other industries. They emphasize Perry’s access to highways, railroads, ports and nearby metros and the county’s abundance of resources like wood, energy and water. They advertise the local Big Bend Technical College that can retrofit curriculum to prep a workforce for incoming industries.
Taylor County has been a final contender for several potential new project sites, Cate says. So far, no official announcements. As of August, the Taylor County Development Authority was in talks with 10 potential businesses, their interests ranging from defense to aviation and aerospace to wood products. Each potential plan could add anywhere from 24 to 125 jobs, while their associated capital investments range from $3.2 million to $1 billion.
Meanwhile, existing industry in the county is expanding and absorbing “refugees” from the timber industry.
Norway-based aerospace and defense company Nammo has a $130-million plan to grow its munitions factory in Perry, where former Georgia-Pacific employee Lee Coulliette now works. It plans to add 320 acres and around 200 jobs to the 1,040-acre operation by 2027. Big Top Manufacturing, a fabric structure manufacturer headquartered in Perry, plans to nearly double its production capacity and workspace with a multibillion-dollar investment. Since 2018, Canadian snack food company Super-Pufft Snacks has invested more than $60 million into its Perry factory to become Taylor County’s largest employer.
There’s still light at the end of the tunnel for Perry. It just might not be in timber industry.
“What does the Taylor County of the future look like?” Cate ponders. “I don’t care how dark the days are. I guarantee you 20 years from now, Taylor County will still be here, and they’ll have industry. I’m trying to make sure it’s good, solid industry.”