Looking forward to my first festival.

This is pretty embarassing, now that I think about it, but I've never really been to a community festival.

At least not like Dexter Daze. Sure, I've popped into the Ann Arbor Art Fair for a couple of hours, once, and my hometown of Westland has a carnival every year leading up to the annual Fourth of July fireworks. The closest I've ever come is visiting the Howell Melon Festival. My brother invited me when he lived there, but I just couldn't see the allure of a melon or a festival about melon(s).

Dexter Daze doesn't exactly give me much to go on from the name alone, but I've heard so many people talk about it that my natural curiousity will inevitably lead me to it, although the promise of a chicken meal with all the fixings doesn't hurt. Plus I hear people in Chelsea mention it too, so there's got to be something to it.

I welcome our readers to send me emails or respond to this post with suggestions of stuff that I should definitely not miss. I've read past stories, flyers, etc to get a feel, but it's not enough. No. I want to hear from people about their actual experiences, so please share.

Fun stuff aside, look for news on some serious additions to downtown Dexter. Projects like the Mill Creek building (Paul Cousins would give me such a pinch for calling it that) and the Dexter Wellness Center. These are the types of obvious next steps in terms of development that I see Dexter Village taking.

Commercial space with residential dwellings really ignite a downtown area, and who doesn't want a gym?

If anyone out there could drop this one in a community planning suggestion box, I would like to see a LaShish or similar Middle Eastern themed restaurant move into the area, speaking of suggestions. The day that I can order a lamb shwarma salad in the village will be one that I will cherish forever.