“We’ve only been open since 2019, so we’ll take every bit of help that we can get,” Lorinda Kain says. “They really take care of us. It means a lot.”

Featuring Coney dogs, secret recipes, and lots of homemade food, learn about four diners in St. Clair County and the families behind them.

Algonac residents Liz and Danny Walker recently launched Ice Box Novelties, a new ice cream peddling business serving iconic frozen snacks across the community.

As local studies have identified billions of dollars in economic benefits from the region's parks and trails, area leaders have increasingly come together to acknowledge and better leverage those benefits.

“This has all been about navigating with the times and adjusting to what comes,” says Happy Dog Yoga Studios owner Emilee Hartwig.

“This started as a blog, just me reaching out to women that just had children and were trying to go back to exercising,” says Gigi Verstegen. “The problem is that a lot of the information out there is just the wrong information. Doing what you did before a pregnancy just might not be realistic. And talking about postpartum issues can often be seen as taboo.”

Mostly closed since the start of the pandemic, take a look at how some theaters across St. Clair County have innovated and taken advantage of the time while waiting to reopen.

“Once you start having tournaments and league play, people will be driving in, getting lunch and dinner, hotel rooms. And if you ever have a large-scale tournament, that’s hundreds of people driving in,” says William Freed, one of the course designers. “Once this course is established, it’s definitely going to bring in people from other states and Canada.”

“This award will help us replenish an area that became a vacant lot after we tore down the old playscape. This is a fresh, new, and colorful idea for the kids.”

Numerous factors have prompted huge increases in park usage during the COVID-19 pandemic, but most of them trace back to residents seeking mental stability during unprecedented chaos and uncertainty.