Ypsilanti's Back Office Studio (BOS) and Ann Arbor SPARK East Innovation Center will host 2023’s first 9th Hour business networking event on Feb. 2 from 5 p.m.-6:30 p.m. at the BOS on 13 N. Washington St. in Ypsi. This event will be the first of several monthly 9th Hour events happening this year from February to November.

“We encourage you to just jump in,” says BOS Community Manager Kristin Danko. “We really love meeting new people and seeing what everyone is doing.”

During the 2022 season, many 9th Hour events were held virtually to ensure health and safety as the community came out of the pandemic. These First Hour events, as well as outdoor patio-hopping events in the summer, allowed business professionals, freelancers, and entrepreneurs in Ypsi to continue to network safely. This year, Danko and the team at BOS hope to see all 9th Hour events happen in person.

“The plan is to keep growing as people continue to attend and make connections with each other,” Danko says. “It’s a friendly environment. It’s neat to watch people chat and converse and find out how we can help each other out.”

Danko says the return to in-person events this season was prompted by attendee feedback. Organizers had already held the November holiday 9th Hour in person at the Morris Lawrence Building on the Washtenaw Community College (WCC) campus. Danko hopes that 9th Hour will return to that venue later this year, as well.

“Any changes to this event usually come from the people that are here,” she says. “They say they want to try new things, or host the event in their space, and we usually say yes.”

To register for the Feb. 2 event, or to stay up to date on future 9th Hour events, visit either SPARK’s events page or BOS' events page. To be added to the 9th Hour email invite list, contact Danko at kristin@thebackofficestudio.com.

Rylee Barnsdale is a Michigan native and longtime Washtenaw County resident. She wants to use her journalistic experience from her time at Eastern Michigan University writing for the Eastern Echo to tell the stories of Washtenaw County residents that need to be heard.

Photo by Sun Chao.