Kalamazoo’s name is so distinctive strangers around the world have been known to break into song at hearing the name. With such a recognizable moniker you’d think Kalamazoo wouldn’t need nicknames, but through the years changing names have reflected the city’s refusal to stand still. The Zoo, Celery City and the Mall City are a few. The innovative thinking that brought downtown K’zoo the nation’s first pedestrian mall in 1959 continues to work today. Innovators have developed thriving life sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms. They build on the expertise of Kalamazoo’s universities. Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Davenport College all are centers of research, development and technology. They surround a downtown vibrating with condos, apartments and homegrown, top-notch restaurants. The universities are woven into the city’s social fabric and contribute to a cultural scene that Kalamazooans love to boast about. The Kalamazoo Symphony, Kalamazoo Institute of Art and a vibrant local theater community are a few of the offerings. Locals also love their festivals that fill the air with music and the scents of ethnic foods wafting over the Arcadia Festival grounds and the Kalamazoo River. Outdoor activities from biking on the Kal-Haven trail to disc golf and standard golf on a nationally-acclaimed course in Milham Park are the start of the city’s leisure side. Sports fans have competitive college teams, minor league baseball and hockey to follow. And it all comes with a Promise. All high school graduates who live in Kalamazoo qualify for a scholarship that pays 100 percent of their tuition at any public university or community college.
There have been many accomplishments in the Edison Neighborhood over the past 21 years that Tammy Taylor has been Exective Director. But she says it has been the small things she and the association have done to help people that have meant the most to her.
After a year's hiatus due to COVID-19 precautions, Bell's Eccentric Day is back, Dec. 3. It's one of a number of bars with live shows that are bringing folks out of their isolation. Mark Wedel recently visited the venue to see what a show with COVID safety precautions in place looks like.
Roosevelt Lee-Fleming learned how to keep expensive sneakers in pristine shape as a teen. Now he's turned that skill into a business of his own. The Drip Sneakers restores shoes for sneaker-heads. It also sells unique women’s apparel.
Outdoor play is especially important now during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the new play area on Bronson Park in Kalamazoo will offer that opportunity. Construction will continue throughout 2022.
Workers who have quit their jobs or whose job have quit them talk about why they are not going back. An economist and two other people from Kalamazoo who help entrepreneurs build their businesses give their thoughts on where are all the workers.
An idea that had been rolling around Dan Kay's brain for a couple of years came together at a time when all seemed lost. Now his Perfect Paint Edger is getting national attention from all the right people.
Despite the quarantining and social distancing Kzoo Makers has continued to attract creative builders, engineers, artists, and crafters and has even been a home for growing businesses.
For 19 years Psych Ward Haunted House has been scaring Kalamazoo.
Local food banks that serve both rural and urban constituencies are being hit hard by fluctuations caused by the pandemic. In 2020, donation sources closed, food drives stopped. In 2021, food prices rose, deliveries slowed, food was being diverted to commercial use as restaurants and other businesses opened. Nonprofits' needs continue to be great.
Kalamazoo's Housing Resources Inc. says it wants to develop “A Kzoo POD Community,” of small modular housing pods to safeguard people who have been living outdoors in harsh and often unsafe conditions to be located in a space where residents define how they want to live.
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