Figuring out where to put down roots – particularly when you have a family – can be a stressful, fraught decision, to say the least, so Metromode recently checked in with some local residents to hear their respective answers to the question, “Why Farmington?”

Some came from another place entirely. Some (nicknamed “boomerangs”) lived in this area as kids, then found themselves drawn back to Farmington. Here we chat with five of them to find out what brought them to (or back to) Farmington.

Meet Jennifer Tomlinson

Perhaps no one was more surprised to find herself in back in Farmington than Jennifer Tomlinson, Farmington’s Deputy Clerk (and mom of three). Tomlinson had been 15 when she first moved with her mom to Farmington from Dearborn Heights, and she wasn’t a fan.

“Farmington was different back in the mid-90s than it is today,” says Tomlinson. “ … It felt like old people central. … I worked at Daman Hardware (where Fresh Thyme is now located) – I’d walk to work – and I didn’t have many friends. It was social suicide to move in high school, so I just wore all black and sat in the back of the class and didn’t talk to anyone. … I thought it was a dull, lame place to live, and I hated every second of it.”

She left town to attend Western Michigan University – “I hardly ever came home, because I felt like I didn’t connect with people here,” says Tomlinson – and then lived for a time in Florida and California before returning to Michigan. Even then, though, Tomlinson lived in Lake Orion, Waterford, and Macomb before the housing market collapsed.

“Our nice, family-oriented neighborhood (in Macomb) became awful,” says Tomlinson. “My mom told me about this house across the street from her that had been foreclosed and was sitting empty. She says, ‘It’d be a great place for you to live,’ and I say, ‘Are you kidding me? I don’t want to live in Farmington.’ … I was really skeptical. My experience was that it was a really boring place to live. But then we moved here, and I started getting involved with my kids’ school and everything, and things had changed downtown. When the brewery was coming in, and Los Tres (Amigos) opened – It started feeling like a place where I wanted to hang out.”

Plus, being in a town where so much was in walking distance helped Tomlinson lose the fifty-plus pounds she’d put on while having three kids in three years. “Even if I’m not going to an event, I walk all the time,” she says. “I’ll go for a walk and watch the kids dance (at Swing Farmington at Riley Park), or I’ll watch people ice skate and stop and get a coffee at Starbucks. … I love being able to walk around and know people and say ‘hi.’” READ THE REST HERE

The old real estate mantra “Location, location, location” seems especially imperative in Ann Arbor, where businesses flock to pedestrian-heavy commercial strips like Main Street, South University, and State Street.

But those areas also command the area’s highest rents, so many businesses opt for the quieter and less glamorous environs of Ann Arbor’s strip malls – where some of them have become destinations in their own right.

The tough part is getting on people’s radar in the first place.

“You can get from one side of Ann Arbor to the other in about 15 minutes, but it is interesting how townies tend to stay in their area of town, or the areas they get accustomed to,” says Jenny Song. Song is an Ann Arbor native herself and owner of the Songbird Cafe, which has locations in the Plymouth Road Mall at 2707 Plymouth Rd., and at 2891 Jackson Ave.

“Even my friends will say that we’re far out if they’re on the west or south side of town,” she says. READ THE REST HERE

George Bernard Shaw famously wrote, “There is no sincerer love than the love of food,” so Washtenaw County foodies probably felt their hearts racing many times this past year, as yet another crop of enticing new restaurants opened their doors.

And while Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti’s food scene tends to get the most media attention, new restaurants can often make an even bigger splash in the area’s other towns, so in this post, we’ll be focusing on eateries that recently launched in Dexter, Chelsea, Manchester, Saline, and Milan.

Smokehouse 52 located in Saline: Phil and Jenn Tolliver’s authentic barbecue venture isn’t technically “new” to the county – the first iteration opened in Chelsea in early 2013 – but its second location in Saline is, having just launched in April 2018, in the space formerly occupied by Mangiamo Italian Grill. (By way of bona fides, co-owner Phil Tolliver grew up on a hog farm in Stockbridge, then later traveled to learn the ropes from Mike “The Legend” Mills of 17th St. BBQ in Illinois.) Saline’s SH52 menu offers the same options as Chelsea’s, including comfort food faves like mac and cheese, shepherd’s pie, and fried chicken, as well as pulled pork, beef brisket, and ribs cooked over authentic wood-fired pits. Sounds fall-off-the-bone good, no? READ THE REST HERE

A specialty food culture has taken root in Downtown Farmington.

In fact, a semi-monthly craft beer and cheese pairing event – with cheese selected and provided by The Cheese Lady; craft beer made by the hosts, Farmington Brewing Co.; and additional food supplied by Browndog Barlor & Restaurant or Sunflour Bakehaus – regularly sells out.

“We are strong believers in ‘a rising tide raises all the boats,’” says FBC co-owner Jason Hendricks. “We want to see all businesses in downtown Farmington do well.”

Both FBC and The Cheese Lady have been part of downtown Farmington since fall 2014, while Sunflour – originally called Farmington Bakery when Pavlik and co-owner Becky Burns bought the place in 1998 (the name change came in 2007) – has deeper roots.

For this reason, Pavlik has watched baking fad specialty stores come and go (cupcakes, anyone?) while establishing a beloved, enduring neighborhood bakery that regularly stocks the usual breads-and-cookies fare alongside unique specialties.

“I started making King Cakes twenty years ago, when no one around here made them,” says Pavlik, referring to the Mardi Gras seasonal favorite – a cinnamon coffee cake topped with fondant icing and sugar in purple, green and gold. “ … I didn’t want to just do paczkis. … And when Hurricane Katrina hit, … there were some refugees in the area from New Orleans who were like, ‘I can’t believe it. I didn’t think I’d get to have a King Cake this year.’” READ THE REST HERE

This profile is the inaugural edition of Destination Ann Arbor’s Great Minds Think a Lotseries, highlighting influential leaders in Washtenaw County who make a positive impact within our community.

Sean Duval is the kind of person that some would present as evidence that the American Dream is still possible.

While working as a manager at a local McDonald’s in the early 1990s, he learned that a jewelry store’s offshoot business – Golden Chain’s Limousine Service, based inside Weber’s Inn – was shutting down. He got a bank loan; bought two sedans (and rented a van) from Golden; and worked full-time at McDonald’s, then later the Federal Correctional Facility in Milan, while working part-time to build his version of the new business, which he renamed Golden Limousine.

In 1998, Duval started working full-time for the still-growing business, and Golden Limousine is now – with an owned fleet of 25+ units, a local network fleet of over 100 units, with ties to hundreds of companies with thousands of vehicles worldwide – celebrating 27 years in business. READ THE REST HERE

Diane Hill and Sayre Fox in Theatre Nova’s production of Sarah Treem’s “The How and the Why.” (Photo by Golden Record Media Company)

It’s a beautiful thing when a play not only passes the Bechdel test with flying colors but offers an intellectually satisfying evening of theater, too.

For Theatre Nova’s production of Sarah Treem’s The How and the Why focuses entirely on the charged conversations between two women: tenured evolutionary biologist Zelda Kahn (Diane Hill) and the daughter she gave up for adoption, post-doc student Rachel Hardemann (Sayre Fox).

As they meet for the first time, Zelda’s department is preparing to host an important conference. When Rachel reveals the radical theory she’s developed concerning the “why” of human female menstruation — that it acts as a kind of physiological defense mechanism — Zelda offers her the chance to present her ideas at the conference. When things don’t go well, Rachel’s left to wonder: Did Zelda set her up to fail out of professional jealousy? Or did Zelda just naively give Rachel an opportunity that she and her theory weren’t quite ready for? READ THE REST HERE