Williamston Charm
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11/3/2009
Williamston is one of the three “stepping stone” communities between Detroit and Lansing – Fowlerville to the east, Webberville in the middle and Williamston closest to Lansing. The area has a rich heritage as a farming community that dates back 150 plus years.
We moved to the area in 1991 and fell in love with everything about the Williamston. The City glows in the autumn, and is a winter paradise at Christmas. Spring on the banks of the Red Cedar River is like no other place. Summer is laid back with plenty of City wide events taking place every weekend.
The neighborhood we live in looks out for its own and each family shows an interest in everyone’s well being. A helping hand is always at the ready for people in need. The community rose as one when Ricky Holland went missing several years back, with large numbers of residents spending weeks searching the woods for him. The case, unfortunately, was traced back to abusive parents. Perhaps this is why the town folk are so protective of their youngsters.
The school district is listed as one the best performing districts in the State of Michigan, and the high school football team won its first playoff game in years just last week (Go Hornets!).
The town is on the verge of becoming a cultural mecca with arts and music festivals, the new bandshell and live plays at the theater. The downtown riverfront park gets a new path in 2010, and new trees planted replacing the ones destroyed in the tornado of 2007. A chainsaw sculpting event will make use of the left over stumps of those destroyed trees. The old downtown Sun theater still shows new release movies for $3-$4 a ticket – a bargain these days.
The town is full of turn of the century homes and old farmhouses tastefully restored. With the economic downturn, rental housing seems to be increasing slightly - the only negative worth mentioning. Some renters care for their yards and housing better than others, and the ones that don't surely will move along quickly as they are not very welcome.
The local politics can get pretty snippy (it seems to run in cycles) but that’s more indicative of any small town city council style government.
The downtown has had its share of turnover of businesses (antique stores abound), but seems to be heading into a more stable period recently. There are a couple nice restaurants downtown and many food options 10 minutes to the west in larger Okemos.
Williamston has a reputation in the mid Michigan area as being one of the more tolerant towns in the State, and enjoys a “secret” community of local artists, writers and musicians.
We have enjoyed raising our kids in this great town and area, and can think of no better environment for new families just starting out, or retired people looking for a comfortable locale to while away their golden years.
Wally | Williamston, MI