The artist Rick Malt has been a regular visitor of downtown Farmington for about 20 years, he estimates. Malt’s long-time friend Rob Woelkers first opened PLUS Skateboarding here in 2003, and Malt has been coming to visit Woelkers and poke around his skateboard shop ever since. So when Malt was invited to paint downtown Farmington’s latest mural as part of the Detroit Institute of Art’s Partners in Public Art (PIPA) program, it was an added bonus that he could hang out with his friend over the week or so it took to paint his murals alongside Riley Park’s Sundquist Pavilion.

“He’d pop by and we’d grab lunch, or just skate over and hang out for a little bit,” Malt says.

“With these gables, the one side is the summer side with summer colors, and the other side has more of a fall feel to it,” says artist Rick Malt.

Downtown Farmington looked quite a bit different when PLUS Skateboarding first opened here in 2003. In fact, the park and pavilion where Malt just spent a week painting his mural were nothing more than a good idea back then. Riley Park and Sundquist Pavilion wouldn’t open until 2005, a placemaking project that altered the trajectory of downtown Farmington’s fortunes by building a public square atop a large parking lot surrounded by a busy shopping center. It was a bold decision then; as any community currently trying to eliminate parking to build an ambitious placemaking project knows all too well, it remains as bold today as it did 20 years ago.

Riley Park and Sundquist Pavilion opened in 2005.“I'm sure it was blasphemy back in the day that they were taking away this sea of parking to create Riley Park, but it's obvious that Riley Park has become the keystone that has blended old Farmington with quote-unquote new Farmington,” says John Bry, Program Coordinator at Main Street Oakland County. “(That strip mall) is probably 70 years old, but Farmington blends the two together beautifully and created this major gathering point for the farmers market, ice skating rink, and concerts, or for just hanging out.”

Bry leads Main Street Oakland County, the first and only countywide Main Street program in the country. Main Street America, the national organization, was first founded in 1980 and has been working to reinvigorate the country’s traditional downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts ever since. Farmington became a Main Street community in 2002, utilizing the program’s tools and resources to spur economic and community development through the power of placemaking. Such quality of life improvements like new parks and public art programs have contributed to downtown Farmington’s 21st century success, where 66 net new businesses have opened since 2002. Today, the vacancy rate in downtown Farmington rests at just 5 percent.

Heights Brewing has embraced downtown Farmington and its programming since the brewery first opened in 2023.

It’s that success that has earned downtown Farmington and its Main Street program an ever-growing list of accolades. Earlier this summer, the Farmington Downtown Development Authority won Main Street Oakland County’s “Spirit of Main Street” award, the county program’s highest honor. And just this past October 1, the Farmington DDA announced that it had been named one of eight semifinalists for the 2025 Great American Main Street Award, the prestigious and top award from the national Main Street America organization itself. With more than 2,000 Main Street programs throughout the country, being named a semifinalist is impressive in its own right. The honor itself will be awarded at the 2025 Main Street Now Conference in Philadelphia next April.

“It's quite an honor,” says Bry. “Farmington is getting a lot of well-deserved national attention with this.”

Innovations in placemaking

In downtown Farmington, Bry has a second favorite placemaking project to add to his admiration for Riley Park and it’s a 700-pound raven fashioned out of repurposed 55-gallon metal drums and abandoned car and bike tires. Edgar the Grand Raven, as the Farmington DDA would come to name the sculpture, was acquired from artist Nick Jakubiak as the centerpiece of the Grand Raven Festival, the annual Edgar Poe-inspired festival first launched in 2020 that features both passive and active events and activities throughout downtown each October.

Edgar the Grand Raven is made from repurposed 55-gallon metal drums and abandoned car and bike tires.

The festival began as one of the DDA’s innovative responses to the early, socially-distanced days of the COVID-19 pandemic; their award-winning social district, The Syndicate, is yet another. The DDA’s acquisition of Edgar the Raven came amidst a wave of public art projects happening downtown, where the creation of their Public Art Blueprint in 2017 and the Public Art Committee in 2018 has cemented their commitment to more public artworks in the community.

Signs announcing new businesses abound in downtown Farmington.The amount of murals, sculptures, and installations has grown since then, and increasingly serve as exclamation points to high-profile projects happening throughout town. While Rick Malt’s murals on the gables of Sundquist Pavilion were funded by the DIA and its PIPA program, it ties a bow on a project that has set the tone for downtown Farmington’s path since its opening in 2005.

“With these gables, the one side is the summer side with summer colors, and the other side has more of a fall feel to it,” says Malt. “So as you walk through the pavilion, it's like the seasons are changing.”

Hard work pays off

A more recent placemaking project is the pocket park found between two businesses, Sipp Smoothie & Juice Bar and Dina’s Therapeutic Thai Massage & Spa, on Farmington Road. Dinan Park opened in 2023, where it hosts concerts, get-togethers, and plenty more. Its completion was punctuated with the installation of City Moon, a sculpture from Detroit Design Center.

Dinan Park opened in 2023, activating an underutilized space for gatherings, performances, and more.Founded by the brothers Erik and Israel Nordin, the renowned Detroit Design Center has installed their sculptures in prominent public spaces from downtown Detroit to the suburbs and well beyond. Recently, the DDA has tapped the Nordin Brothers for yet another high profile project that’s currently in the works: Masons Corner. With construction already underway, the Masons Corner project is transforming a patch of grass at the intersection of Farmington Road and Grand River Avenue into a destination befitting such a high-profile and historic corner in the center of a town that’s currently celebrating its 200th year.

“Israel and I are creating two new sculptures for Farmington,” Erik says. “The first sculpture is to commemorate the city’s bicentennial and will feature an integrated fire element, adding a visually striking kinetic component. The piece draws inspiration from Farmington’s rich 200-year-history and the warm, inviting spirit of the city. The second sculpture will include a swing, inviting interaction from visitors to the newly developed Masons Corner and adding another layer of kinetic energy to the art.”

The two pieces were funded in different ways, demonstrating how the community has bought into the greater vision for downtown Farmington. The DDA hosted a fundraiser earlier this year for the swing sculpture, earning donations from members of the community to commission the piece. The fire sculpture serves as a gift from the Kocoves family; Alex Kocoves is CEO of GLP Financial Group and was instrumental in the multi-million dollar renovation of the historic Farmington State Savings Bank building, which would open as GLP’s new headquarters in 2022.

Edgar the Grand Raven at his temporary roost as work proceeds at Masons Corner, the 700-pound sculpture's usual perch.

The new park is being built at the foot of Farmington’s historic Masonic Lodge, where Blue Hat Coffee spent several years renovating the first floor to open its cafe in late 2023.

It’s another new business in front of another new park in a community that’s 200 years old.

That’s Farmington as it nears the beginning of the first year of its third century: demonstrating that investing in our shared spaces – be it through art, parks, or otherwise – results in a downtown that has more people and fewer vacant storefronts.

And the ones that are vacant likely have a “Coming Soon” sign taped to their door.

“Some of these things that they've wanted to do for years, that Farmington has been chipping away at, are now starting to be realized. It's certainly not an overnight success story,” says Bry. “People think, ‘Oh, they did this so quickly and overnight.’ These things have been in the works for a while.”