Weekend update from Milford, Michigan - Christmas Season Kickoff

Today is the Christmas Parade in Downtown Milford. The parade is organized by the Huron Valley Chamber of Commerce (HVCC) and is one of the “Big 3” parades in Milford during the year. The other two are the Memorial Day Parade and the 4^th Of July Parade.

I’ll be in the parade today as an honoree, having been named the HVCC Ambassador of the Year. That means riding in the back of a convertible, which will be a very chilly, albeit, at a parade-time temperature of about 30 degrees, still a heartwarming experience. The parade steps off at 10 am and winds through the downtown. Afterwards stick around in Milford and shop the local shops on Small Business Saturday. They have some great sales going on today.

Santa will arrive in Milford at the Christmas Parade to officially kick off the Christmas season (notwithstanding the fact that many stores had Christmas stuff on display before Halloween). Santa

will be a busy guy with many personal appearances in the Milford area.

On Dec 5^th the downtown merchants will host an open house with visits to Santa for the kids, strolling music and refreshments.  Santa will also be holding forth on Dec 7 and 15 at the Pettibone Creek Powerhouse on West Canal Street (north end of Central Park) for Pet Pictures with Santa. A donation of pet food to Community Sharing is all that’s required to get your pet’s picture taken with Santa either day. You’ll get the picture on the spot. Click here to view the poster for this event. Santa will also host Snacks with Santa out at Kensington Metropark at the Farm Center at 10 AM, noon and 2 PM on Dec 7 & 8. Tickets for that event are $10. Preregistration Required Call 810-227-8910 to order your tickets.

Speaking of pet pictures, the 2014 Pet Calendar, also sponsored by the Community Sharing Pet Pantry makes a great Christmas gift that will bring a smile to the face throughout the year. The calendar is only $10 and you can buy the calendar at several locations in Milford. Click here for the flyer with locations.

The gallery opening of the fourth annual Festival of Trees Holiday Artist Market, presented by HVCA’s The Art Shop, opens with a reception Friday, Dec. 7; it will start at 7 p.m. with the Kettle and

Friends holiday concert running simultaneously at Huron Valley Council for the Arts, 205 W. Livingston Road in Highland. Tickets are $15; purchase them online at huronvalleyarts.org or in person at HVCA. Guests will have the chance to enjoy wine and appetizers as well as the concert's holiday selections and get first crack at the holiday market's wares. Click here for more information about the event and the market. The market will be open until 9 p.m. and during regular gallery hours through Saturday, Dec. 21. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the concert. Gallery hours for Festival of Trees Holiday Artist Market take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, call HVCA at 248-889-8660.

On December 13^th the Michigan Philharmonic Orchestra comes to the area for a Holiday Pops concert at the Walled Lake Northern Center for Performing Arts. Click here for more on this event. General Admission tickets are $15 for this concert with starts at 7:30 PM.

As always, to stay up to date on all of the events in the area, check in often at www.movetomilford.com where the calendar of events is updated daily.

Milford Home Tour Weekend

Just a reminder that Home tour is this weekend.    Visit 5 beautiful historic homes located right in the Village and all within walking distance.  Home Tour is Saturday, September 21st and Sunday, September 22nd.  Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.   Tickets are $15.00 for Adults and $13.00 for Seniors.

This year we are proud to highlight five beautiful kept historic homes, all located in the Historic District and all within walking distance.  A group of volunteer docents who have an interest in our heritage will guide our guests through the homes and give a glimpse of the history behind each home.

Tickets can be purchased ahead of time at Main Street Art, Acorn Farms and Your Nesting Place or the Museum.  The day of the tour, tickets can be purchased at any of the 5 houses.
In addition to the Home Tour on Saturday and Sunday; there is the Milford Car Show on Sunday (cars start lining up early and stay all day) on Main Street in Downtown Milford – for more on the Car Show, go to www.milfordcarshow.com ; the annual Tractor Show, also on Sunday out at the Huron Valley State Bank at the corner of GM Road and Milford Road; and The Milford Rotary Club Duck Race, with family activities kicking off at 11 Am on Sunday and the ducks hitting the water at 2 PM.
Come on out to Milford this weekend for two days of family fun. For more information on all of these events, go to the Historical Society web site – www.milfordhistory.org .

Calling all Michigan artists...

I support many local groups and all of them are worthy causes run by passionate people. The Village Fine Arts Association is one of those groups. They have an annual art competition that is worth knowing about, especially if you are a Michigan-based artist. Below is their press release about this upcoming event. You'll see more about it here as it draws closer, but the deadline to enter is coming up, so read about it now.

The Village Fine Arts Association (VFAA) is looking for artists to participate in their 18th annual

“Views and Visions” all-media art competition and exhibit.  In collaboration with the Huron Valley Council for the Arts (HVCA), this popular show will hang in the HVCA Gallery beginning with the opening night celebration at 6:30 pm on Friday, November 1 through Wednesday, November 27st.  
This show is open to all Michigan artists and includes the “Fresh Visions” category for artists under 18 years of age.  Each artist may enter a maximum of 3 pieces and have the opportunity to earn cash awards with a top prize of $400.  Entry deadline is September 21st.

We are pleased to have as this year’s judge Robert Perrish, an award-winning designer, sculptor and painter.  He is a co-founder and active member of the Michigan Plein Air Painters.  He has been highly awarded for his outstanding work which has appeared in national magazines, calendars, books, limited-edition prints as well as in various art galleries.  See his work at www.robertperrish.com.    

The prospectus with all entry information is available online at the VFAA website www.milfordvfaa.org or pick up a copy at the HVCA Gallery located at 205 W. Livingston Road in Highland, Main Street Art in Milford, or at Miller’s Artist Supplies on 12 Mile Road in Farmington Hills. 

If you have any questions or would like a copy of the prospectus mailed directly to you, please contact the VFAA at their website or call Sue Gollon, VFAA Executive Director at 248-797-3060.

The Next BIG Weekend in Milford MIchigan

Wow, the summer is going fast.

Milford Memories is history and school is about to start. We’ll have one last summer fling over the Labor Day weekend and then it’s back to a more normal pace.

There are lots of smaller events coming up in the area, but the next big thing is the Milford Home Tour weekend. Home Tour is on September 21 & 22 this year. I’ve included the home tour poster below. You can click on the graphic to see the full size view. Home Tour weekend is big because there is so much going on in the Village that weekend.  The Home Tour itself is on both days from 11 Am until 5 pm. As always, there will be 5 of Milford’s wonderful old home to go through. In addition the Museum will be open both days, as will be the Log Cabin next to the firehouse and the Pettibone Creek Powerhouse. There will also be walking tours of Oak Grove Cemetery.  See the Milford Historical Society web site for more details on the houses and the event. I’ve included the event poster below. Click here it to see it full size.



Then, on Sunday the Milford Car Show will take up all of Main Street between Commerce and Huron, with an expected 300 cars of all sorts expected. There are car categories covering everything from old, original antique cars through modern street rods. It’s the largest car show in the area every year.



Also on Sunday, there is a Tractor Show out at the Huron Valley State Bank parking lot near the corner of Milford Road and GM Road. Tractors of all sorts show up at that show every year.

Finally, the Rotary Club of Milford will have its annual Duck Race on a tributary of the Huron River in Central Park. Thousands of little, yellow rubber ducky’s will be bobbing furiously towards the finish line. The activities kick off at 11 AM and the race is at 2 PM. The winning duck will pay out $2,000 to the lucky owner.  Get a duck race ticket from any Rotary Club Member and get in the race. Tickets are $5 or a package of six for $25 or a bag of 30 for $100. For more, see their Facebook page.

So, mark the weekend of September 21 & 22 in your calendars as another weekend to spend in Milford. There’s lots to do and you can enjoy all of our great restaurants on Saturday and most of them on Sunday. Plan on stopping in for lunch between visits to the Home Tour houses or while you are seeing all of the cars on Sunday.

Granny's Attic Sale coming up soon!

The much anticipated annual Granny’s Attic Sale is coming up July 12 & 13, which just happens to coincide with the Summer Palooza Sale in Downtown Milford. The Milford Historical Society’s annual sale on the lawn and front porch of the Milord Historical Museum is open both days from 9 am until 4 pm. There will be furniture from estate sales and lots of unique items, some antiques, for sale both days.


The annual sale is supplied with items from various estate sales during the year that Duane Frietag conducts, as well as items donated my Historical Society members and others. If you have items that you’ve been meaning to donate somewhere, bring them to the Museum and leave them on the porch before the sale dates.

If you’ve been looking for that rare piece of glassware or china; that funky piece of vintage furniture or that unique items to set off a room or nook in your home, come out and check out this sale.

Get in the parade!

The Independence Day Parade is next week - this year it's actually on the 4th of July. Get your group signed up by downloading the parade application at -

http://www.milfordhistory.org/2013_Parade_Application.pdf


There's nothing more American than marching in the 4th of July parade, so get your group or organizaiton signed up and get into the parade! Come celebrate the birth of this great nation in small town America. If you can't or don't want to march, come watch. The parade steps off at 11:00 am at the corner of Commerce Rd and Union St.

I'll see you there!

Come hear about The Purple Gang

The March General Membership Meeting of the Milford Historical Society is tonight, March 21st. Our guest speaker for the March General Membership meeting is Paul Kavieff author of three Purple Gang books, who will tell the gruesome tale of this juvenile Jewish organized crime gang reigning from 1910 – 1945. Long time Milford residents can probably recite stories about the time when some members of the Purple Gang used to like to hang out in Milford. So come hear about Milford’s gangster time. It’s certainly more interesting than digging up farms around Milford, looking for Jimmy Hoffa.

Paul Kavieff holds degrees from Oakland and Wayne State Universities. He is a nationally recognized organized crime Historian. Using rare police photos, mug shots and group photographs the book takes you back to the days of hijacking and bootlegging. Something the Purple Gang were experts at. But they could not play nice together so power and jealously eventually lead to their own destruction.

The Meeting kicks off with a pot luck dinner at 6:30, followed by the meeting and Paul’s presentation at about 7:30. The meetings are held in the Milford United Methodist Church at 1200 Atlantic St in Milford (near the post office). Remember to ware something purple or make a mobster dish to pass - like Gangster Goulash or Machinegun Meatballs or even better a cake with a file in it. You should also bring your own dinner serving set-up and a drink for yourself. The pot luck dinner is considered one of Milford’s best. I’ll see you there.

Women's Enrichment Day

Tomorrow, March 9, is the date for the 10th annual Women's Enrichment Day at the White Lake Middle School at 1450 Bogie Lake Rd in White Lake. This event is organized by the Highland - White Lake Business Association and features workshops, shopping and lots of fun for area women. It's a day of no chores, no cooking and no kids to watch; a chance to learn about a number of interesting topics for women in the workshops and a chance to shop at the tables of over 40 vendors who will be in attendance. Lunch will be available for purchase and there will be door prize drawings throughout the day.

Workshops will range from how to download books from your library onto your Kindle, iPad or Nook, to learning how to knit to tips for improving your personal energy level. Other workshops will focus upon helpful tips like how to make small drywall repairs and how to make a felt Easter basket for your little egg hunter. There will be beauty tips and financial planning tips and lots of wellness tips. The admission is $5, which goes to the Huron Valley Educational Foundation. The event starts at 8 am and runs until1:30 pm. The first 200 women through the doors will receive a gift bag and an opportunity to have a continental breakfast.

 Obviously the content of the workshops is enriching, but just getting together with other women to network, shop. learn and have fun is enriching in and of itself. Give yourself a break Saturday morning and join your sisters at Women's Enrichment Day. For more about the event read the event brochure by clicking here.

Milford Memories…

The annual Milford Memories street festival is this weekend in Milford, Michigan. This event has grown over the few yeas that it has been run into one of the premier Michigan arts and crafts events and was actually ranked at number 75 out of the top 100 art and crafts shows nationwide in the Art and Craft 200 best issue for this years. Not bad for an event that started out as a humble little play that celebrated Milford’s history and which was staged in Central Park on a summer afternoon. The musical play about the history of Milford still exists and has been performed many times since.

Now it is a three-day street event that attracts hundreds of vendors from all over the country and which is expected to draw 250,000 visitors to Milford over the three day period. The traffic rerouting that is required and the congestion that results has caused a few locals to sourly refer to it as Milford Miseries, but they are in the minority. Most Milfordites get into the spirit of it, with many volunteering for various traffic management or other duties during the three days. The event is sponsored by the Huron Valley Chamber of Commerce, so all of the work done to put it on is done by volunteers.

There are plenty of events that are staged in conjunction with the street fair itself – musical events in several venues, a beer tent on Friday and Saturday night and a Civil War re-enactors camp that is set up during the event, complete with a canon that is set off in the morning at dawn and again at dusk. While there are no carnival rides there certainly is every variety of carnival food, from hot dos and brats to elephant ears. Venders sell everything from cheap stuff for the kids to relatively expense works of art.

So come on out to Milford this weekend. You can also stop by the Real Estate One office on the north end of the festival. We’ll have canopy set up in our parking lot, which is just north of the Flatiron Building and agents will be on duty to fill you in on all of the places that you could buy in Milford so that you could begin enjoying the Village lifestyle, too. There’s no better place to enjoy small town America than Milford and this weekend is just one of the many events and parades and concerts and goings-on that we have year around. Look for me in the crowd or at the Real Estate One office.