When friends and family urged Patrice Davis, “You should sell these, they are delicious!” Patrice did not have being a farmers’ market vendor in mind. Patrice knew her baked goods were delicious. After all, her goal was to bake butter pound cakes like her Aunt Amy. Patrice experimented a while, tweaked the recipe, and although…
Jazz guitarist Ron English, composer and pianist Michael Malis, bassist Jaribu Shahid, and Tariq Gardner, drummer will be performing two long sets on Thursday, August 5, at the Northwest Detroit Farmers’ Market, 18445 Scarsdale. The first set will start about 4:30 pm, and the other at 6 or 6:30 pm. Ron and Michael live in…
Icyphine, or Icy, was a farmer’s wife from Indiana who moved to Michigan’s thumb in the 1920s, and who loved to cook three times a day for everyone who worked on the farm. When Ashley Hughes was about nine, her family noticed her resemblance to her great grandmother Icy, and so “Little Icy” stuck. Ashley…
John’s introduction to outdoor Detroit produce markets started not as a shopper or a vendor. John’s dad was in charge of security at Eastern Market, and about seven years ago, the security department was looking for some more workers. John figured, “Why not? It’s a job, right?” Over time, John came to love Eastern Market.…
Music has been an important, even sustaining part of Patricia Pilafian’s life for nearly as long as she can remember. Patricia moved to Detroit with her first husband who worked for a company that sold garbage disposals. Business was tough. Early on, while Patricia was pregnant with her third child, they all lived in an…
Co-owners Sidney Farrington and Jessica Tidwell opened DTown Vinyl, Detroit’s only black and woman-owned craft vinyl supply store in Detroit about 10 months ago, right in the middle of the pandemic, and business is good. The store offers heat transfer vinyl, printable vinyl sheets, glitter, rhinestones, and more. This willingness to take a risk, and…
Like perhaps most people, when Mike and Emily started looking for a home, they had a list of things they were looking for. After living in “tiny apartment in Hamtramck,” they wanted space “inside and out” for themselves and their dogs Clark and Lola. They wanted a house that didn’t need much repair, and that…
JeNiece Freeman-Holt comes to GRDC as a Program Specialist with some valuable hands-on experience. A Challenge Detroit Fellow, JeNiece worked with the marketing team for The Platform, the developer of the Obama building at Grand River and Lahser in Old Redford. In this position, JeNiece was able to use both the creative training she received…
Ed Smith moved to his home in Grandmont in 1983, right across the street from Ramsay Park, a large park that has a large picnic area, mature trees, permanent picnic tables and benches, a playground, and a baseball diamond. It didn’t have all these amenities when Ed moved in though, and it didn’t look as…
The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for most small business owners and non-profit organizations. While looking after their own and their employees’ health, small business owners also have to consider the health of their customers, and of the businesses themselves. The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) wanted to help our small business community weather these…