Barely containing his enthusiasm, A.B.C. Hardy was waiting. He had to talk with Billy. He had seen the future and Billy Durant needed to know what it held for the Durant-Dort Carriage Company. Hardy fidgeted with the hat on his head as the doorknob turned and Durant stepped out of his office. “Billy,” he stood and said, removing his hat. “Hello, Alexander,” said Durant as he shut the door behind him. “How was Europe?”
Craig Coney has always held Flint and its citizens close to his heart. Throughout his life, the city was there to support him spiritually, socially and financially. He has lived his entire life here and owes a lot to the mentors and institutions that helped keep him on the right path. The thought of leaving the city has never crossed his mind. “The Flint community has always been good to me,” he says. “It made me who I am. My family was here and I always wanted to be close to them.”
Water Warrior Green. Ocean Blue. Secret Red. These are the latest eyeglass frame colors available at a growing local business, thanks to the Genusee Artist Collaboration. The company, Genusee Eyewear, produces the first circular economy eyewear brand that upcycles one-use plastic water bottles into eyeglass frames and sunglasses. Founded by Ali Rose VanOverbeke, the kick-starter company was officially launched in 2018 and is located in Downtown Flint’s Ferris Wheel building.
He had big shoes to fill … but Tony Tucker, former owner of Krystal Jo’s Diner in Flint, hit the ground running when he replaced Chris Hamilton as executive director of Old Newsboys of Flint last year. Hamilton passed away unexpectedly on March 1, 2019.
As his sons played in the field, Seymour Ensign packed up the last of his belongings. His wife watched over the two boys, her hand shading her eyes from the morning sun. Ensign’s friend, Thomas L. L. Brent, on whose lands he spent the first year of his life in Genesee County, was waiting to shake hands. In the township of Pewonigowink to the north sat the house Ensign had been working on for the last few months. It was finally finished and his family would be leaving Brent’s farm today to try their hand at pioneer life on their own. He tossed his rucksack into the wagon and called for his family. As they climbed into the wagon, he expressed his thanks to Brent who wished him well and good luck. Soon, the Ensign family was off to settle the last open land around. Ensign had found his home and couldn’t wait to join the other men and women with the courage and heart to tame the wild – to lay the foundation for the future of Genesee County. Hear, hear! To the pioneers!
“Our mission is to promote connectivity and empowerment to female leaders, founders and entrepreneurs,” says Flint’s Future is Female Co-Founder, Rachel Johnson. “One of our goals is to encourage a new generation of females to get involved in their community and its organizations. You can be a decisionmaker at the table.”
Ever since he was a little boy, Larry Atkins felt a deep connection with nature. The Michigan native spent a lot of time outdoors collecting rocks, fossils and interesting pieces of wood. Then, he read about meteorites and was filled with wonder. “It was a defining moment,” he remembers. “I knew then that I was going to search the world to find them.” And, that is exactly what he did.
Surrounded by state-of-the-art recording equipment, Marshall Block sits in his studio at Real II Reel Productions listening to a new track he recently mastered for a new band called The Fruits. “They are fantastic musicians, a great singer and great players. Most importantly, they are putting in the work to make it in today’s music world,” he says. “A lot has changed in the years that I have been doing this.” The Fruits have surpassed 500,000 streams on (digital music service) Spotify and are hitting the rest of the social media world hard. “That’s what it’s all about nowadays,” adds Block.
Athena McKay was in a quandary. While working as a Flint community liaison with Michigan State University, she and other members of the Flint Eats Project steering committee agreed with MSU researcher, Dr. Joshua Introne, that the Flint Eats App they were developing would be best owned and operated by a non-profit organization in Flint. The trouble was, they couldn’t find an organization with the necessary resources and skills. So, they did the only thing they could think of: they started their own. The steering committee became the board of directors for Flint Innovative Solutions (FIS), a 501c3 non-profit. McKay was named executive director with Kathy Roberts as acting board president. “We started out of necessity,” says McKay. “We needed an organization to handle developing and implementing the Flint Eats App, and everything else expanded from there.”
I can’t help but feel like we Flintstones have something special. Those outside of Genesee County just don’t know what they are missing. Sure, our fair city has had a hiccup here and there – what city hasn’t? But its positives far outweigh the negatives and the gap is growing. We have our own highway (I-475), a world-changing history, great (and affordable) colleges, a fantastic park system, festivals, a community that supports one another (counter that, New York), a fantastic art scene, great music, etc. With all of the things that Flint has to offer, have you taken advantage of it (Pre-COVID, of course)?
Clutching a flag and sporting a Detroit Red Wings jersey, 13-year-old Jon Merrill was awestruck as he waited in the tunnel at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena prior to a 2005 playoff game. The Holy Family seventh-grader had been chosen as a flag bearer for the contest and was moments away from skating a lap around the ice in front of a typically raucous postseason crowd.
