Like so many other communities, Saline Michigan has a character cast by many different facets.
This coming Saturday is another established annual opportunity for visitors and locals alike to see a wide variety of them set out for attraction, from the city limits at Eastgate on approach via US-12 to the home of our founder just this side of Curtiss Park. [1,2]
Start with our own Rentschler Farm Museum participation in Michigan’s Longest Garage Sale, part of two hundred mile event that will open Friday August 9 and continue through Sunday, August 11. While it is true that a number of seller offerings set out on tables about the property will be rightly seen as traditional “yard sale” fare, a good many established storefronts from this area set up booths to sell their bests and alsos here. [3,4]
Elsewhere on the grounds, the Rentschler farmhouse and affiliated structures will remain not only accessable, but staffed by knowledgable volunteers prepared to help those so inclined to imagine taking a step back in time to rural life here in Washtenaw County, circa 1930. Real live docents, too, and, if you prefer, the virtual sort. [5-8]
Again: That’s just the beginning.
Once you get to the four corners where Michigan Avenue intersects Ann Arbor Street, vehicles with the Saline Street Machines car show will adorn the thoroughfare looking north as far as the eye can see. Past entrants have included examples dating back to the Ford Model T. A look into the not-too-distant future has been promised to come through the Michigan Electric Auto Association. [9-13]
Back on Michigan Avenue and spilling out onto South Ann Arbor Street within this walking district, downtown retailers and restaurants will routinely offer special menu items, drinks, and sales to entice =Saline’s Summerfest attendees to stop and enjoy their specials. Beyond that, vendor booths will be setup to sell craft items and food in this area and the municipal lot behind Benny’s Bakery. [14,15]
Four corners is also where Historical Trolley Tours board. Routes alternate between north and south sides of Saline. Highlights of the twenty minute 2019 are anticipated to include the following points of interest. [16,17]
- Citizens Bank
- Harmon House
- Brick hotel
- Schneider Saloon
- Union Block
- American House
- Presbyterian Church
- Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
- Davenport-Curtiss House
- Saline Phone Company
- Annin-Peoples House
- Original location of Orange Risdon house
Significantly, discussion of Oak Wood Cemetery founded circa 1825 will set the stage for Saline Rotary’s Oakwood Cemetery Enactment Tours that are scheduled for late September. [18-20]
For those who are interested in the entertainment, retail, and historic side of our community — the social Saline — this weekend and Saturday August 10 is the date to schedule for a veritable Whitman’s Sampler experience of it all here.
References
- “Orange Risdon Family” Agnes L Dikeman (2004) Saline Area Historical Society.
- “Curtiss Park” Saline.
- “Rentschler Farm Museum” Saline Area Historical Society.
- US 12 Heritage Trail (home page).
- “Imagine Seeing Rentschler Farm Museum through the Eyes of a Child During Your Next Visit, Part 1” Dell Deaton (May 25, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “Imagine Seeing Rentschler Farm Museum through the Eyes of a Child During Your Next Visit, Part 2” Dell Deaton (June 8, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “Imagine Seeing Rentschler Farm Museum Through The Eyes Of A Child During Your Next Visit, Part 3” Dell Deaton (July 20, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “Virtual Docents Now On Duty 24/7 at Rentschler Farm Museum” Dell Deaton (November 25, 2017) Saline Journal.
- “Saline Street Machines” Saline’s Summerfest.
- “Saline Street Machines car show 2017” Dell Deaton (August 15, 2017) Vimeo.
- “Saline Street Machines car show 2014” Dell Deaton (August 12, 2014) Vimeo.
- “Electric Vehicle Show” Saline’s Summerfest.
- Michigan Electric Auto Association (home page).
- Saline Main Street (home page).
- Saline’s Summerfest (home page).
- “Historical Trolley Tour” Saline’s Summerfest.
- “Work Must Go Into Making Saline Historical Trolley Tours Fun For The Guides So That It Will Be Fun For The Riders” Dell Deaton (August 11, 2018) Saline Journal.
- The Rotary Club of Saline Michigan (home page).
- “On September 30 You’ll Learn More Than How Saline Resident Levi Haynes Became Wealthy With Enhanced Farm Crop Yields” Dell Deaton (August 22, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “Like So Many Histories From Saline, Dress Rehearsals For Upcoming Cemetery Enactments Stretched Their Own Bounds” Dell Deaton (September 24, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “A Short and Sweet History of the Whitman’s Sampler” Jake Rossen (November 28, 2017) Mental Floss.
