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Gratiot Area
Chamber of Commerce |
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St. Louis is gearing up
for the Holidays! The annual Customer Appreciation Day Sale that leads up to
the holidays is set for Sunday, November 12, when many downtown businesses
will be open from 11 AM to 4 PM with special sales. We hope that you will
continue to support our downtown and locally owned businesses when you do
your holiday shopping, as well as throughout the year. The Middle of the Mitten Association is also preparing for
the Small Town Family Christmas event on December 2. That event includes an
electric light parade, the arrival of Santa and refreshments following the
parade. This year will also include the return of the Holiday Home Tour in
St. Louis. There are five homes that will be open to visitors that day from 4
to 7 PM. A trolley will be shuttling guests to the various homes as well as
giving a light tour throughout town. Other activities are also being planned,
so watch for more information in the near future. In other St. Louis news, the City of St. Louis recently
purchased the vacant lot at 300 North Mill Street, on the northeast corner of
North Mill and Center Streets. The property, a former gas station site, is on
the City’s list of Brownfield properties eligible for cleanup. The City plans
to remove the old underground tanks from the lot this year and future plans
are to develop it as a small “pocket park” with landscaping, places to sit,
etc. This will create another
attractive area right downtown and follows the Small Town Design Initiative
work that the DDA and City went through in 2005. A long-time downtown St. Louis business changed hands
recently as Phil and Peggy Chiarenzelli purchased the former Jan’s Pizzeria
and renamed it Phil’s Pizzeria. Phil’s has a great menu including pizza
slices at lunchtime and we’re sure you’ll enjoy the changes they’ve made. The
phone number remains the same at 681-2148 so the transition should be an easy
one. A fond farewell to Jan Bunting after 28 years and thanks to her for
providing all her good food and community service over the years. Fortunately,
Jan has not moved away, and will continue to serve as a County Commissioner
representing St. Louis. The DDA Façade Grant Program continues to help get
projects done downtown! Recently
Brewer-Bouchey Monument completed work on a large colorful awning over two of
its buildings at 211 North Mill Street and a new sign and paint job is very
noticeable at Jim’s Barber Shop at 229 North Mill. Look for projects yet this
season at CJ’s Auto Sales, Common Threads Quilt Shop, Peters Hardware and
Victoria’s Flower Cottage all with assistance from the DDA program. Other
requests are being reviewed at this point and we hopefully have more projects
to announce soon. The St. Louis Parks & Recreation Plan revision that
has been worked on for months is now complete. The City and St. Louis Public Schools have combined to put
together a five-year plan that includes all of the City parks and school
facilities as well as plans for future trails, green space and pathways connecting
the sites. The group has also done a good job of incorporating St. Louis’s
plans with the county as a whole, looking to cooperate with Alma and other
Gratiot County communities. It’s almost time for the St. Louis High School Homecoming
celebration too, so make sure to put Friday October 6 on your calendar. The parade will start at 5:30 p.m. and go
through downtown, while the varsity football game against Saginaw Carrollton
will begin at 7:00 p.m. We hope that
our local community members will enjoy the parade and come out to support our
football team. |
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