Getting ready for a huge weekend

Milford’s summer festival Milford Memories may not be at the level of the Ann Arbor Art Fair, but for a little Village the size of Milford it’s HUGE. It’s also huge with the various arts ads crafts vendors who attend every year. It is such a success that there is a waiting list of vendors trying to get a booth slot at Milford Memories. I’ve talked with many of the vendors who tell me that this is one of their favorite street festivals of the year and a very good one for business for them. Even during the very down years of the “Great Recession” they were still selling their wares to the visitors at Milford Memories.

The Milford Memories Festival draws crowds estimated at over 100,000 people into Milford over the three days – Friday through Sunday. That’s a lot of people for a small village to accommodate and getting a parking slot close to the downtown area can be tough. Since I only live two blocks from the north end of the festival, I get lots of requests to park at my house from friends and church people in West Bloomfield and Orchard Lake, where we lived before moving to Milford in 1999. We try to accommodate them all and certainly welcome people to visit us while they are out for the festival.

My house also happens to be right on the primary detour route for getting people around the closed off streets of downtown. That makes it tough to back out of my own driveway during the weekend, but we still manage. We also get lots of foot traffic by our front and side yards during the weekend, which, again, I don’t mind. I just hope that passers-by don’t use my yard as the dump for their empty water bottles or food wrappers.

There are lots of events planned for the weekend – 5 & 10K races; blind canoe races; a civil war encampment, with canon firing daily; an Art in the Village art show and much more. Click here to see a schedule all of the events associated with Milford Memories over the three days. The Milford Historical Society will be holding a Granny’s Garage Sale Friday and Saturday from 9 am until 4 pm on the front porch of the Milford Historical Museum. We also plan on having a display of museum items in a tent out front and another tent to sell some of the items that the museum normally sells when it is open. If enough docent volunteers can be found, we’ll also have the Museum open on Friday and Saturday.  The Museum is on Commerce Rd just a block east of Main Street, so it will be an easy detour for you if you are walking the whole festival.

Believe it or not there are a few other things going on in the Milford/Highland area that weekend, if street festivals are not your bag. One event of interest to history buffs might be Kensington Colonial Days out at Kensington Metropark.  For the list of other things going on, go to my web site www.movetomilford.com and check out Upcoming Community Events.

So rest up this weekend and early next week and get yourself ready for three days of fun and shopping  in Milford at the Milford Memories Festival or participating in some or all of the events going on during the weekend. And remember to stop by the Granny’s garage Sale at the Museum. I’ll be there most of the day on Friday.

Granny's Attic Sale a Success...

The Granny’s Attic Sale that the Milford Historical Society (MHS) held last Friday and Saturday was a big success. We sold lots of stuff; however, we also had lots of stuff left over and actually had more donations coming in each day. So, we’ve decided to have a Granny’s Garage Sale during the Friday and Saturday of the upcoming Milford Memories Festival. The sale will be on the front lawn of the Milford Historical Museum again. The times will probably be about the same as last weekend 9 am until 4 pm each day; but check in at the Milford Historical Web site – www.milfordhistory.org  - as we get closer to Milford Memories for details and the times of the sale. Proceeds from the sales go to support the mission of the MHS.

The recent Summer Palooza on Main St was a miniature dress rehearsal for the big show – Milford Memories. The Milford Memories Festival, coming up on August 13, 14 &15, is rated one of the best in the country by the vendors themselves, so it brings out the best arts and crafts vendors. It has also become a must attend summer tradition for thousands of Michigan people from surrounding areas. There will be lots of added events and things for the whole family going on during Milford Memories, so plan to spend a whole day in Milford during that weekend. For more on the upcoming  Milford Memories Festival click here.

In the interim there are lots of things going on in Milford and Highland and the surrounding areas. For an up-to-date calendar of events in the area go to www.movetomilford.com and look at the Upcoming Community Events. There is just no excuse to be bored this summer in the Huron Valley.

A great time...a pain in the a..

This weekend is the Milford Memories Weekend, which is our "big event" of the year. Thousands of people come into Milford from all over the area to attend this arts and crafts show. It draws hundreds of vendors from all over the country who come to display their wares. It starts setting up on Thursday night and runs Friday through Sunday. It is a wonderful weekend for the Village, a great fund raiser for the Chamber of Commerce and a good time for everyone who attends. And, yes, it can be a royal pain in the behind, if you are a Milford local.

I only live three blocks from downtown - only two blocks from N. Milford Road. I'm on the "detour" route for all of the closures of Main St. in Milford - all of the parades, the festivals and, yes, Milford Memories. What that means is that for the next three days, I'll barely be able to get out of my own driveway. I;ll have people walking all over my lawn and I'll have beer crowd returning from the beer tent until all hours of the morning. From a locale's perspective events like this can be a real pain. But, we still love them. they help make Milford what it is - a real-life incarnation of Andy Griffith's Mayberry. I'll bet you can even find Aunt Bea down on Main St somewhere selling her famous apple pies and one of the church booths.

So, we "townies" or "Villagers" as we might be called will put up with the three days of traffic jams and noisy crowds and rowdy drunks all for the sake of a good time for the Village. We can do that because we get to think about the other 45 or so weekends a year ( we do have lots of parades) when it's just the sleepy little Milford that we all love so much. So, enjoy this weekend if you're planning to come over for Milford Memories. And if you'd like to see what it is that we love about the place, come back next weekend and give me a call - we'll stroll around the peaceful little Village that we locals love to call home. In the mean time, visit my www.MoveToMilford.com Web site and look at some of the virtual tours that are there.