Downtown Ferndale Full of Main Street Award Winners 
(Crystal A. Proxmire, 3/7/2011)
Main Street Oakland County presented Awards to businesses and organizations from communities throughout the area at a celebration on March 4, 2011 at Glen Oaks Clubhouse in Farmington Hills. Main Street is a trademarked program of the National Main Street Center in Washington, D.C. The program helps communities focus on their downtowns or shopping districts as areas for preservation and development.
Farmington, Ferndale, Franklin, Highland, Holly, Lake Orion, Ortonville, Oxford, Pontiac, Rochester and Walled Lake are MSOC communities. Berkley, Clarkston, Clawson, Hazel Park, Leonard, South Lyon and Waterford participate in their mentoring program.
The Ferndale Downtown Development Authority (DDA) was given a Special Achievement Award for winning the 2010 Great American Main Street Award, which spotlighted Ferndale at a National level. Read more about this honor at http://www.ferndale115.com/20100504dda.html.
Other Awards included:
The Outstanding Private/Public Partnership Award was given to Ferndale DDA, City of Ferndale, Foley & Mansfield and the Michigan Economic Development Commission for the Pedestrian Alley Project. This project turned an awkward and potentially dangerous alleyway between Foley & Mansfield and Dino’s Lounge and other Woodward businesses into a glittering walkway with places to sit and relax. This redesign effort also won the Outstanding Public Improvement Project Award.
Lofts on 9 won for Outstanding New Construction, and Brian Kramer was given the Outstanding Business Investment Award for Rosie O’Grady’s.
Foley & Mansfield was recognized for their Outstanding Preservation Success Story, for fixing up the old school house at 130 E. 9 Mile.
The Outstanding Main Street Business of the Year was Dino’s Restaurant & Lounge, located at 22740 Woodward. Dino’s is known for community events and promotion. They are a sponsor of The Ferndale 115 News. Dino’s is known for charitable programs and fun activities, like Peddling for Pups (http://www.ferndale115.com/20100819kittens.html), hosting the Rib Burn Off each year (https://oaklandcounty115.com/2011/02/06/rib-burn-off-results), and The Ferndale Film Festival (https://oaklandcounty115.com/2009/09/15/film-fest-next-ferndale-tradition/).
Oakland County was the first county in the United States to operate a full-fledged county-wide Main Street program for the 32 distinct, historic downtowns in Oakland County. The county program was formed in 2000.
The Ferndale DDA began in 1980, and currently has several committees including Promotions, Design and Business Development. Executive Director Cristina Sheppard-Decius said, “Partnerships at every level make all the difference in the success of a program. The good news that keeps coming out of Downtown Ferndale is a result of the ongoing and extensive collaboration among all of our businesses. Change brings more change, success breeds success and good players make a great team…and we’ve got the best.”
To find out more about Downtown Ferndale and the great businesses that are located there, check out the DDA website www.downtownferndale.com.
For other Downtown Ferndale stories, see our Downtown News Section at https://oaklandcounty115.com/category/downtown-news/.
More Business News can be found at https://oaklandcounty115.com/category/chamber-and-business-news.
