A couple of quotes that I’ve saved from the Jack’s Winning Words blog seem to go together and provided the inspiration for this morning’s post here.
“Although we can’t stop the world around us from changing, some things are precious enough to preserve.” (Linda Kast, Editor Reminisce)
-and-
“There’s an old saying about those who forget history. I don’t remember it, but it’s good.” (Stephen Colbert)
It is unfortunate that Colbert’s quote is spot on in terms of our society’s current feelings about history. We have largely become a “throw it away” society with things, with peo0ple and with our history. I am a Board of Directors member of the Milford Historical Society and past president of that board. Like the thousands of other small town historical preservation groups across the country, the Milford Historical Society has as its mission to collect, preserve and make available to the public the history of our little Village and Township. We operate a small museum, The Milford Historical Museum, in downtown Milford, which houses memorabilia, pictures and documents from the Milford area’s past. We also feature a second floor that is set up and furnished to provide an experience like one might have had in a Milford home in the late 1800’s. We provide docent guided tours of the museum.
Like most other small-town museums, mainly volunteers run ours. We have a paid, part-time Museum Director. In addition, we run a program for local high school students which awards them a scholarship at graduation, after they perform a number hours of duties as docents (guides) in the museum. Our hope is interest them in history a little through that experience as well as to help them in their further education.
The Milford Historical Museum is usually open during the summer and fall months from May until November. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have remained closed and all of our normal activities have been suspended. Those suspended activities include the things we usually do during the year to raise funds to operate the museum. When the museum is open we get donations from visitors. We also collect dues from our membership each year. We normally hold a rummage sale called Granny’s Attic in July and a Home Tour of some of Milford’s historic homes in September. The Home Tour normally contributes about 75% of our annual budget. Neither fund-raising event is being held this year and with the museum closed, we are not getting donations from visitors.
We have made an appeal to the local businesses that usually support our Home Tour, with some success, but not enough to make up for the loss of Home Tour revenue. Unfortunately, the bills didn’t stop when everything else did. We must keep the building environment controlled to avoid damage to the historical contents, so air conditioning in the summer and heating in the colder months must continue. We must still pay to keep the landscaping up and this year we had to have the exterior painted to avoid deterioration of the 100+ year old building that houses the museum.
We believe that the history and heritage of the Milford area is precious enough to preserve and to share with future generations. We hope that you do too. If you would like to make a donation of any size to the Milford Historical Society to support our mission, please send your checks to The Milford Historical Society, 124 E. Commerce St, Milford, MI 48381. Thank you for your support. Come by the Museum when we are able to reopen and take a look at Milford’s history. We didn’t throw it away, we preserved it.
Posted by Norm Werner 
There are 6 really nice homes to visit, as well as the Milford Historical Museum and the Log Cabin next to the fire station.
The annual Milford Car Show is going on in downtown Milford today, too. Over 350 cars of every type and description will be on display from 9 AM until about 3:30 PM this afternoon. This is a free event.
parking lot at the corner of S. Milford Rd and GM Rd.
month to buy a “feel good tap” beer and support the Milford Historical Society.
sales during the year and almost always returns with things that didn’t sell then but which give the Granny’s Attic sale a unique flavor and content. There’s furniture and unique items, as well as the expected glass and china items. You’ll find things in this sale that you’d normally only see in antique stores. The sale runs Friday and Saturday fro 9 AM until 4 PM both days.
Michigan event out at the Bakers of Milford restaurant. This event, now in its ninth year, featured beers, ales, meads, hard ciders and wines from over 35 Michigan based craft breweries/wineries. It also had tasty foods from more than 10 local restaurants, as well as music and lots of fun for everyone.
which features tours of five local homes, as well as the Milford Historical Museum and the Log Cabin in South Park. The Oak Grove Cemetery was also open with self-guided tours of the grave sites of
the many of the people who built or lived in the homes that were on the tour and information on those and the graves of Milford’s WWI veterans was provided by local historian Linda Dangenhardt.
stage all the way down south Main Street and into Central Park. Over 340 cars were in display from 8 AM until 3 PM. There were cars and trucks of every age, description and type – from un-restored antiques to modern street rods. The sights and sounds during the day were enough to satisfy any car enthusiast. In addition, there was an antique tractor show out
at the Huron Valley State Bank parking lot featuring tractors from collectibles to day-to-day working farm tractors and equipment.
So today we had the Fourth of July Parade. Well over a thousand local people lined Main Street, many staking out their favorite spot by leaving blankets and/or chairs on the sidewalk on main street as early as the night before the parade. The parade didn’t start until 11 AM, but there were people out before 10 AM. Some came much earlier and had breakfast in one of our downtown restaurants before claiming their spot for the parade. The local AmVets group walked up and down the parade route handing out small American flags, so that the kids and their parents had something patriotic to wave as the parade passed by them. An entrepreneur also walked up and down selling cotton candy to excited kids who awaited the start of the parade. How Mayberry-like is all of that?
bicycles and the horses. This year we had the Huron-Kensington Metroparks 6-horse Clydesdale wagon in our parade, which is like the Budweiser Clydesdales that we see on TV coming to Mayberry. We also had horses from the Cowboy Church of Michigan and from the local Kensington Trail Riders organization.
place in Mayberry and perhaps was a little too political even for a Milford parade. But we got through it without incident. We also had a fly-over with a single plane from the Tuskegee Air Museum making several passes over the parade route. It was an old T-6 Trainor from WWII, which might have been a modern plane back in the time depicted on TV in Mayberry.
with two this year that have never been on the Home Tour before. Several homes will also feature entertainment by various individuals and groups. Proceeds from the Milford Home Tour go to support the operation of the Milford Historical Museum.
purchased at several downtown Milford locations prior to Saturday – Acorn Farm, Main Street Art, Your Nesting Place and the Milford Historical Museum – or at the homes that are on the tour either day of the tour. Tickets are $15 for Adults and $13 for seniors. This year’s homes are located at 624 N. Main St, 324 S. Main St, 104 Second Street, 957 S. Main St and 1018 Atlantic St. For more on the houses that are on this year’s Home Tour go to the web site 
of indie rock at the new LaFontaine Family Amphitheater, from 7-10 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19. Presented by Huron Valley State Bank and the Milford Downtown Development Authority, the concert is curated by Milford’s own Sean Lynch and will showcase three local and regional bands in one night, including hometown band 800Beloved, Grand Rapids-based Dear Tracks and Detroit’s Missionary. The concert is free to the public and will feature all original music. The LaFontaine Family Amphitheater is located in downtown Milford’s Central Park.
On Sunday, September 18, downtown Milford will be turned into a giant parking lot for the 32 annual Milford Car Show – the largest area car show of the year. Cars of all ages and type will be on display with show attendees getting to vote for their favorite cars in several categories from vintage streets rods to modern muscle cars. Over 250 cars are expected for the Milford Car Show which will open to the public at about 10 AM. Cars start showing up much earlier than that ad line up from Main and Commerce Streets all the way down to Central Park. For more on the Car show, go to 
parking lot at the corner of GM Road and Milford Road. Tractors of all sorts show up for this annual event; from working farm tractors to lawn tractors. There have even been a few steam engine tractors in the past.
This year the 4th of July Parade will have a special twist, with the addition of the Huron Valley Rotary Club’s annual Duck Race in Central Park. Here is their Press Release –
local organizations are encouraged to enter a float or walking group in the parade. The parade is on the 4th of July and steps off at 11:00 AM, with line-up starting at 10:15 AM. Participants line up on Union, Hickory and East Streets. Groups may obtain the Parade Registration form from the Milford Historical Society web site – 
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