Just before entering town from the west, I noticed a strip of businesses along the highway. McGregor and Maple Lake are two other small town airports that I pass on a regular basis. Both of those also have sprouted small business parks in the vicinity of their airports. Sure, some of those businesses may have been built somewhere else in town. But they weren't.
Airports are marketing tools.
Some people look on a map and see just where they are going. Map reading is a basic and vital soldering function. I look at a map and see what's going on. Every symbol on a map is there for a reason. Symbols show lakes, rivers, trails, major intersections, population, railways, county seats, airports, etc.