It's all about Milford...

Whenever someone moves into a new community they have lots of questions and concerns about finding stuff and services that they might need. They also won’t know what’s going on in he community that they may wish to participate in with their families. Those are some of the things that I’ve tried to help with by creating and maintaining the MovetoMIlford.com web site.

A person new to Milford can find just about anything that I could think of within a few clicks at the Move to Milford site. Much of the content is not stuff that’s I’ve created, it exists on other web sites; but, I did go find those sites and put links to them on my site, so that you can find them. Some of the obvious things, like the calendar of Upcoming Community Events, I keep right on the opening page. Some more obscure things, like the link to a site that has all of the Township and Village ordinances, require a couple of clicks to get to (hint: the Click on Milford page has lots of those things).

I’m not a restaurant critic, but I’ve tried to keep track of all of the eateries in town, with contact information and links to their web sites, where applicable. All of the churches are listed, too. Both lists are accessible from the Click on Milford page. I also have a Recommended Local Businesses page on which I have listed businesses that I have done business with and/or businesses that are in my Huron Valley Chamber of Commerce referral group. I don’t keep businesses listed there for which I have received complaints or bad feedback. There is also always a Featured Business of the Month on the opening page with a write-up that I do about the business.

If you are new to the area and have a family, you’ll likely have questions about the schools and boundaries for the district and the schools. Answers to those questions may be found by following links from my site to sites that are about schools.

Milford is a very active community, with lots of groups sponsoring or running lots of programs. I try to keep up with all of that, but for some I have links to their schedule of events and programs. Specifically the local YMCA, the Milford Library and the Huron Valley Community Recreation and Education groups each have program schedules on the Move to Milford site. Many of the local charity groups run fund raising events throughout the year and they will always be highlights on the site, too. I generally post anything that I get information about events from these various groups that are open to the public.

Finally, of course, I am a Realtor in Milford, so there is lots of real estate information available there, too; including real estate sales statistics that are updated weekly. There are links to Community Profiles that are supplied by Oakland County; links to maps and data on the inland lakes in the area, which is supplied by the DNR; and a page full of different ways to search for a house or property. I’ve also created a reading library of articles and useful links to sites with specific information about real estate. There are also forms that you can fill out and submit to get help with either buying or selling a home.

I encourage you to explore the site, whether you are new to the area or not. I suspect that you’ll be able to find things there (or links to things) that you didn’t know existed. One final note – There are two versions of the site, one for full screen PCs and tablets and one for smartphones. The smartphone version is formatted for the smaller screen of the phone, so that you don’t have to pinch and zoom trying to read the site. The site senses the device that you are coming into it from and will automatically switch you to the smartphone version, if that is how you access the site. Try both versions. I hope that you enjoy using the site as much as I enjoy keeping it up.

Two MIlford restaurants close ...world does not end...

The Milford Times had a big headline in the paper this week announcing that two of our family-oriented restaurants closed recently – Klancy’s and The Villa. Klancy’s was a typical. American family diner that featured comfort food and The Villa was a classic Greek Coney Island. Of course there was the immediate reaction by some that “there are too many restaurants in Milford.” I’m not sure that I buy that excuse. I just don’t think those two places offered what enough people want these days.

There was certainly more, direct competition within the Coney Island genre for The Villa.  Demetries  Coney Island has been a Milford fixture in the Prospect Hill Mall for decades and the new Americus Coney & Grill was literally just across the street from The Villa. Both have strong followings. As Mr. “T” might have said – “I pity the fool, who open another Coney in Milford.”

While there is no direct counterpart to Klancy’s in the Village, there are certainly a number of restaurants north of its location that feature American comfort food – Hector and Jimmy’s in the Village and places like Dukes, MVP Bar & Grill, The Comeback Inn and others on Milford Road in Highland – plus they have liquor licenses. If you just wanted breakfast there’s also D’s Café, which is famous locally for breakfast.

The point is that it was more likely good, honest competition for the loyalty of local diners, which Klancy’s and The Villa lost; rather than just “too many restaurants.” Neither place offered the food, service or surroundings necessary to be successful in today’s economy. We also had four new eateries open this year – Le Rendez Vous, The Blue Grill, Tavern 131 and Palate. I suspect that at least 2, maybe 3, of them will do fine.

So, how many restaurants can Milford and this immediate area sustain? More than just the local population and demographics might suggest. Several of our best local eateries are destination restaurants, drawing people from Commerce, White Lake, Highland, Brighton, South Lyon and even West Bloomfield into Milford for diner. The draw is great food, good service, reasonable prices and the quaintest little Village setting in the area.

Restaurants will continue to come and go in Milford. It’s not cause for panic or concern. Some just don’t get it right and they lose. The ones that do the best jobs will survive and prosper. It’s like the jungle law – survival of the fittest. So, come on out to Milford next weekend and sample our best. They’re still here and still serving up great meals. Now, if we could just get a German restaurant to open here…

You've got to love it...

This morning as I walked my dog and before it was even light out, there was lots of activity on Main St in Milford. Crews of volunteers were out delivering and setting up the hay bales, corn stalks and pumpkins to decorate Main St from end-to-end. You could almost see Aunt Bea running around giving the youngsters who were out there fresh baked cookies and warm cider and Sheriff Andy directing any traffic that came along. What a Mayberry-like scene.

To complete the picture, last night was Homecoming at Milford High School, so many of the downtown stores had hand painted decorations to their store windows urging on the Mavericks football team to victory. There was also the Homecoming Parade down Main St last night, complete with all of the homemade floats from each class. You can’t get any cuter than that, unless you’re holding a flop-eared bunny.

I’ve written lots about what a great place Milford is to live and it’s nights like last night and mornings like today that make it so. There are lots of factors that contribute to the appeal of Milford and what allows it to stay so nice. Probably one of the biggest is that it’s off the beaten path – far enough away from the major highways that the big box stores haven’t come in an completely put the downtown merchants out of business – yet close enough to attract a big enough population to sustain the Village. The other major factors, of course, are the people. Milford is full of people who volunteer to do things and provide the organization and drive for all of the events and activities that we have going on.

So come on out to Milford and see how nice our downtown looks with all of the decorations. You can see an amazing display of pumpkins in front of the new Palate restaurant, too; including a couple that had to be fork-lifted into place. The other nice thing is that while you’re here you will find shops that actually sell stuff that you might need and restaurants that have great food at very reasonable prices. While you’re here visit our Historical Museum. It’s open on Saturdays from 1 – 4 pm.  And who knows, maybe you’ll see Aunt Bea out passing out cookies.