blueberry billboard.JPG

A billboard popped up on I-69 West near I-75 this week that reads, "I'm Concerned About The Blueberries." Local blueberry growers, as well as members of the Michigan Blueberry Growers and the North American Blueberry Council have not been able to identify the sign's origin. (MLive.com Photo)

(Jake May | Mlive.com)

FLINT, MI – It's not about drugs or schools or children or global warming.

In fact, it’s not even about blueberries.

The infamous billboard on I-69 billboard in Flint that reads "I'm Concerned About The Blueberries" is simple, according to the man who finally came forward to identify himself as the person who commissioned the sign.

“This is a stunt. It was something I decided to put up to grab people’s attention so they could start thinking about blueberries,” he said.

“But now you need to make the transition to know what the heck I’m talking about. Blueberries are the concerns and the hurdles and the struggles that all of us deal with in a day.”

The man is Flint entrepreneur and business owner Phil Shaltz.

Tom Carroll is the vice president of CBS Outdoor – the owner of the billboard. He was able to confirm that Shaltz is the man behind the billboard and that it went up on Oct. 7, 2013.

Shaltz is the president and CEO of Shaltz Automation, a managing partner for a number of downtown Flint restaurants, founder of the nonprofit Flint Diaper Bank, and he sits on the Hurley Board of Managers, among other things.

“There will be people who see this billboard and see this story, that are so disappointed that this is what it’s about,” Shaltz said.

“Some people want it to be about racism or drugs or the school system, but it’s all about something very simple and very human that touches all of us.”

Shaltz said the idea for the billboard was born following a recent vacation he took with his wife.

The two went on a cruise in Alaska and decided to go on a zip-lining adventure with a group of college students who served as tour guides to visitors of the area.

While on the tour, Shaltz said he struck up a conversation with one of the tour guides.

“We’re there for about three hours, so naturally you just start to speak to the people you’re with. We’re talking and the guy next to me asks the guide how things are going,” he said.

Phil Shaltz, owner of Shaltz Automation in Flint, is the man behind the mysterious "blueberries" billboard on I-69 in Flint.

“It seems like this guy hasn’t a care in the world. He’s living in this wonderful outdoor experience in beautiful Alaska, it’s like they’re partying all night and everything is just great. So after he’s asked how things are going, his demeanor changed and he says ‘Eh, they’re OK.’”

Shaltz said that he and another tourist were kind of shocked that his demeanor was so glib given his seemingly carefree life, so he posed the question again.

The 21-year-old tour guide’s response: “I’m concerned about the blueberries.”

“What about the blueberries?” Shaltz asked.

“Not enough rain,” the tour guide said in response.

Shaltz said that he immediately began to judge the man’s response.

“My first inclination is, ‘Dude, you have no clue about life if that’s your big concern. You have no clue about life, you’re 21 years old, you’re not married, you don’t have a job, you don’t understand politics, you don’t understand the world, and if this is your biggest problem, just wait, because your life is going to change,” he said.

But then Shaltz said that he thought more about the man’s concerns.

One thing that stood out to him was the fact that his issue couldn’t be resolved by anything that he could do.

“He cannot impact his concern about the blueberries because he cannot impact the amount of rain in Alaska,” Shaltz said.

“Then I thought about the other issue. We all go through the day and we see people who have blueberries – their own issues – and we don’t do anything. Even when it’s not about rain, when it’s something we can impact, we show just how desensitized we’ve become. We aren’t as helpful to the common man in even the small things in life.”

Shaltz said that his goal with the billboard was to encourage people to make positive impacts in other people’s lives and to pay those efforts forward whenever possible.

“This isn’t about me. If we all could understand other people’s blueberries – as minimal as they are – we can have an impact on those things. It’s truly about getting people to not be desensitized to other people’s blueberries no matter how insignificant we think they may be,” he said.

“It’s about doing the little things – the causes we fight about and the doors that we open. It’s about caring for each other and doing a little something, causing an avalanche of good.”

He said that he’s well aware of the bigger, more pressing issues such as financial disarray and crime that plague the city, but “blueberries” is more a base-level concept, he said.

“This (tour guide) is fortunate enough to be very concerned about blueberries even though there is nothing he can do to impact that concern. His young life is not yet filled with the struggles, stresses and realities of everyday life that most of us face,” Shaltz said.

“But doesn’t that beg the question: What are your blueberries and how do you try to positively impact those concerns of yours and others’ blueberries?

"Is it your father that needs to be taken to the dialysis center? The sick neighbor that needs to cut his lawn? The elderly person that needs to get across the street? Aren’t everyone’s blueberries tied to helping mankind in some way? Isn’t it all about our responsibility to help others, even if in some small way? It happens every day and most of us don’t even see it.”

The most interesting point, Shaltz said, is that if people can convey the message that they’re concerned about everybody’s “blueberries” in this community, it’s something that every individual can impact and have a role in.

His hope is that if people see others taking an interest in problems that aren’t their own, then maybe they will get involved and care enough to pay it forward.

“I can’t – and none of us can – take care of world hunger, but maybe I can help the elderly lady across the street, or put some money in someone’s parking meter and help them,” Shaltz said.

“Maybe I can look at someone and realize that maybe this guy just broke his hip in June and he can’t mow his lawn. At that point, cutting his lawn is his blueberry.”

The billboard drew national attention and was picked up by dozens of publications following the initial story from The Flint Journal.

Aside from the message, there’s no company affiliation. There’s no indication of who commissioned the billboard. There’s no hint of what it's about.

Blueberry enthusiasts couldn’t explain the billboard’s origins, and CBS Outdoor was told by Shaltz not to reveal his identity to the public.

Anonymity, Shaltz said, helped this whole “blueberry” campaign push forward.

“If we can embed in people’s mind the word blueberry – almost like Pavlov’s Dog – so when they hear the word blueberry they immediately think about the billboard and helping people, then maybe we’ve accomplished something,” he said.

“Or maybe I’m just screwing with everybody.”