There’s a new dentist in town…

February 2, 2016

I usually don’t get all that excited about a new dental office opening up in the area; but the new, Milford Family Dentistry office on Union St. came along just at the right time to get my attention. My dentist of 30+ years over in Commerce recently retired, as did my dental hygienist of 20+ years. My wife and I originally started going to that dentist when I lived in Orchard Lake and we didn’t mind driving back over to them for the 16 years that I’ve lived here in Milford; however, it will be a relief to have a local dentist right here in town.

The Milford Family Dentists offices are in the building on Union Street that housed the
practice of Dr. Barbara Huckabee for many years. When Dr. Huckabee retired, Drs. ToddMFD_dentists Napieralski and Brian Wisniewski , along with their associate Dr. Melissa Jett decided to open a location of their practice for Milford in the building. Todd and Brian met as roommates at the U. of M. dental school many years ago and when they graduated they went into practice together in Chelsea, Michigan over 23 years ago. I got to know Todd aMFD building on Unionnd Brian and Melissa, as well as their staff at a recent Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting for their new office in Milford and then at an open house that they hosted that evening. What a fun group. I think you’ll like the doctors, their staff and the modern equipment that they have installed in the grand old house that they occupy.

As both Todd and Brian explained it, they had been looking to expand their practice into a new location for some time; but they wanted to find just the right place; someplace with the small town flavor, culture and ambience that they love about Chelsea. Milford provided that atmosphere and the perfect backdrop for what they hope will be a long and successful practice here. Based upon my impressions of all three of them, and the entire staff, that should be no problem. All three doctors are outgoing and fun loving and very easy to talk with and all three are also excited about being able to sample Milford’s many fine restaurants, which is something that Chelsea can’t match. They also hope to become deeply involved in the fiber of the community and can’t wait to participate in our many community events, parades and festivals.

I had some trepidation about finding a new dentist, since I hadn’t had to worry about that for 30+ years; but all three doctors put my mind at ease right away. They even made it easy to talk about trying to decide on which of them to see, since they have the practice set up so that any or all of them are available to all patients and they expect that clients will eventually just settle in with whichever one with which they hit it off best. They encourage new clients to come in and visit with one of more of them, to see if there is a better fit with one or another – no pressure to choose and no pressure to stay with any choice. I like that.

One thing they discovered about Milford right away is that there are several Milford’s around the country and another dentists’ office called Milford Family Dentistry in Milford, New Jersey had already claimed the .com Web site name that they wanted.MFD cropped-header Getting to that Milford Family Dentistry office would be a heck of a drive; so, if you need to find a dentist in the Milford, Michigan area; I encourage you to visit the Milford Family Dentistry offices at 402 Union Street. That is one block east of Main Street. If you want to find out more about their practice in Milford, visit their web site – http://milfordfamilydentistry.net/ . They are currently open Monday, noon until 6 PM, Tuesday 9 AM until noon, Wednesday 9 AM until noon and Friday 9 AM until 1 PM. As they build the Milford practice their hours will expand and they hope to have early evening hours on some days to accommodate people who can’t get out of work to go to the dentist.

So check out the new dentists in town.  Tell them that Norm sent you.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Summertime and the good life in Milford, Michigan

July 3, 2015

It’s officially summer, and that means lots of things to do in the Milford, Michigan area for the next few months.

The annual 4thof July Parade kicks things off, with hundreds expected downtown to watch the parade. Theparade band pic parade steps off at 11 AM in front of the Milford Historical Museum and proceeds down Main Street all the way to Huron Street. Over 45 groups will be participating in the parade with candy and goodies for the kids who are watching. The parade theme this year is “Celebrating the Huron Valley” and signifies that the parade is made up of marchers and watched by spectators from all over the Huron Valley area.  The parade Grand Marshall this year is
Mary Lou Gharrity, a life-long resident of Milford who grew up in Ye Olde HotelMary Lou and MArlene on Main Street  and who, along with her late husband, owned the Milford Times weekly newspaper for many years. Mary Lou is also a founding member of the Milford Historical Society and a “go to” person if you want to know about Milford’s history.

On July 10 & 11 Milford’s Downtown Merchants hold their annual sidewalk sale, with great bargains to be had on a variety of store items, plus entertainment, special prizes and refreshments and other “goings-on” downtown.   On those same two days the Milford Historical Society will be holding its annual Granny’s Attic Sale from garage sale-29 AM until 4 PM both days and features an eclectic mix of donated items and items from estate sales in the area. There are things that Granny pulls out of her attic that you won’t find anywhere else, from glass and china to furniture items. Check it out on your way to and from the Sidewalk Sale.

In August Milford’s big event of the year – Milford Memories – will take placeMIlford Memories poster 2015 over three days from August 7 – 9 – Ranked 41st in the Nation by Sunshine Magazine & Voted 2nd Best Festival by Vote 4 the Best. Over 200,000 guests can’t be wrong! This is a huge event, with hundreds of booths featuring art and crafts and other products. It’s not to be missed. Click here to go to the Milford Memories web site.

In September we have the Home Tour weekend, which is comprised of several events over two day – September 19 & 20.  On both Saturday and Sunday, the Home tour runs from 10 Am until 4 PM and features f of the historic homes of Milford, plus 3-4 other venues for visitors to learn more about Milford’s History. On Sunday only there are three more events going on – The 31st annual Milford Car Show will take place all the way down Main Street and into Central Park. The show runs from 8 Am until 4 PM. and features nearly 200 cars of all types in multiple categories that are judged for best in category by the show attendees.  Click here to go to the Milford Car Show web site.

Also on Sunday we have the annual Tractor Show out at the Huron Valley State Bank location at GM and Milford Roads. The show runs from about 10 AM until 4 PM and features both working farm tractors and vintage collectible tractors.

Finally that Sunday the annual Huron Valley Rotary Club Duck Race is held in Central park. There will be RotaryDucksgames and activities for kids, picnic type food available for the family and other activities leading up to the moment when the 1000+ yellow rubber ducks are dumped into the Creek leading to the Huron River and all frantically paddle away trying to be the first across the finish line down-stream. The duck are sold to raise funds for the work in the community that the Rotary does and a part of the funds collected goes to the owner of the first place duck. In the pasts that was well over $1,000. Click here for more on the Duck Race from 2014. Stray tuned for how to buy your 2015 duck. For a little extra this year duck owners will be allowed to paint their ducks a different color so that it makes it easier to see how their duck is doing in the race (each duck is numbered).

In addition to those special events, the Concerts in the Park series of summer concerts at the LaFontaine Family Amphitheater continue, as do the Friday Might Live Concerts at the Center Street Gazebo. You can go to my web site www.movetomilford.com to see the schedule of acts at those venues. Then there are lots of activities throughout the summer at the YMCA and put on by the Community Rec and Adult Ed program. You can view schedules for both at the Move to Milford web site, as well as click on the Events Calendar for Kensington MetroPark. There’s always something to do in the Valley.

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Posted by Norm Werner

A slice of Americana right here at home…

August 19, 2012

I recently spent a few days meeting with most of the local merchants and businesses while soliciting support for the upcoming Milford Home Tour. The experience gave me pause to reflect on how idyllic a setting the Village of Milford really is. I got to meet with the Butcher and the Baker, the Barber  and the Feed Store proprietors, because we still have all of those things in our little Village. I met the shoe store owner, several clothing store owners and a couple of our jewelry store owners, too. Then there were the furniture stores, the candy store, the local photographer and the kitchen/cooking store. Of course the more prosaic stores are there too – the auto parts stores the drug stores and grocery stores. Finally I got to meet with most of the owners of our great local restaurants. See the header at the top of this page for a composite view of some of the stores of our downtown.

The thing that stood out for me was that all of these little, individual businesses still existed right here in the Village of Milford and that, for the most part, you could park once and walk to all of them by going up and down Main St. You just don’t find such a great assortment of stores and businesses in small towns anymore. Milford is far enough off the beaten path to have avoided the fate that so many small towns suffered when so-called “big box” stores moved in and took all of the customers away. Milford also had a good master plan for growth and strong and visionary leadership who carefully managed what and where growth took place, in order to preserve a strong downtown.  It worked and we still have a viable downtown that takes advantage of the great historical buildings that are there and the small town feeling that permeates everything.

Many of the local merchants that I talked to have had a tough time recently, with the down economy taking its toll, even here. Every one of them said there’s no place else that they’d rather be than in Milford, even in this economy. That says a lot, too.

Several of the local businesses decided to support the Milford Historical Society and its 36th annual Home Tour during the third weekend of September. The fact that we have the local Milford Historical Society, with its museum and a Home Tour that’s been going on for 36 years also speaks volumes about small town America and our little Village. People in Milford value and have preserved the fine old housing stock that grew up during the mid to late 19th Century. Milford was never a rich town, but it has preserved the bigger, nicer homes that were built by its early merchants and businessmen, as well as the smaller homes that were occupied by the workers of the day. There are no real mansions in Milford, but there are some fine old homes that have the best features of homebuilding of that era. Some of them are on display each year for the Home Tour.

So, if you get the opportunity to get out to Milford for the Home Tour, try to come on September 15th so that you’ll also have time to wander around our beautiful downtown. Most of the downtown stores are not open on Sunday, but on that weekend some will be, because there is also the big Milford Car Show downtown, too.  You’ll be able to easily find our Butcher and Baker and many of the other businesses that I’ve mentioned. The Feed Store is a little harder to find, but it’s there, tucked away off a residential side street (Houghton St) on the south east side of town. If you have an animal of almost any type you can find feed and other things for it there, along with a proprietor who’s more than happy to chat with you about your pets.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Scenes from the Crit…

July 30, 2012

Action from the Milford Crit

If you missed this weekend’s Milford Crit; you missed a good time and some good bicycle racing. If you just didn’t know what a Criterium is all about, here are some scenes that I shot at the event.

The racing is fast and furious, especially on the last lap. The turns are especially exciting when the pack is bunched up. Enjoy this short YouTube video and plan on attending next year’s Milford Crit.

http://youtu.be/3TLtZPZ3QXA

You can actually get fairly close to the action at a Crit and when the bikes go through that corner at speed it’s a little tlike that NASCAR shot where rhe cars are zooming by – you hear it and feel it.

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Posted by Norm Werner