Town Commons: Community of Howell

Downtown Howell is a great place for shopping, eating, visiting or taking a stroll through the Sunday Farmer's Market near the old County Courthouse. Howell City Park on Thompson Lake, near downtown, is another popular summer weekend spot.

he historic City of Howell offers the charm of a small town with the conveniences of a big city. Its beautifully restored downtown is a National Historic District, with a nice variety of restaurants, shops and services in a comfortable small-town atmosphere of Victorian storefronts, Complementing the ambiance of downtown shopping, are convenient retail districts to the east and west of town that include supermarkets, department stores and a regional outlet mall. Combine all that with its easy access to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Lansing and Flint and its easy to see why the Howell area is the fastest growing community in the fastest growing county in Michigan.

Howell is located just north of Interstate 96 in western Livingston County, between Lansing and the western Detroit suburbs. It not only offers easy access to I-96, Howell is just minutes from the US-23 and I-75 north-south corridor. It serves as the county seat and is the center of a community of more than 45,000 people. But Howell is more than just a pleasant bedroom community. The area has attracted a variety of industries, including plastics and automotive parts and chemicals. It is also the headquarters for a major insurance company.

City Services
Howell offers a well-trained police force and fire departments. The city also has fully staffed departments of public services and recreation. The 32,000 -square-foot Howell Carnegie District Library, located downtown, has extensive programs for children

and adults. There are more than 74,000 items in collection, including books, audiotapes, videos, magazines and newspapers.

Events
Part of the fun of living in Howell is the annual festivals and other events, such as the popular Michigan Challenge Balloonfest, a hot air balloon extravaganza held every June in Howell. There’s also the Howell Melon Festival every August, which includes a large parade, arts and crafts exhibits, as well as music and dancing. A Thanksgiving Day weekend tradition is the Fantasy of Lights Parade that marks the beginning of the holiday season. Christmas is a special time of year in Howell, as downtown buildings and neighboring residential areas are adorned with thousands of holiday lights in a Victorian splendor.

Recreation
The City of Howell Recreation Department offers a comprehensive program of classes, day camps, team sports, special events and swimming programs for residents. There's a Recreation Center, located just west of downtown. The Howell City Park, a short walk from downtown, sits on the shore of Thompson Lake and offers swimming, picnic areas, a playground, hiking trails and a boat launch. Year-round water activities are offered at the Howell Area Aquatic Center, next to the Howell High School fieldhouse. There's also an indoor soccer/roller hockey arena, ice- and roller-skating rinks, bowling alleys and movie theaters, all within a short drive.

Education
Howell Public Schools serve about 7,000 students from the City of Howell and surrounding townships. The school district has some of the best equipped facilities in the state, including a large high school, two middle schools, and six elementary schools. Many of the schools are classified as state exemplary schools.

Howell High School offers four programs of study: a basic course, a general course, a vocational or technical course and a college-bound course, with advance placement classes. The high school campus has a fieldhouse that can accommodate 2,700 spectators and the adjacent Howell Area Aquatic Center, as well as excellent outdoor facilities. A 1,000-seat auditorium at the high school is used by both school and community groups.

Classes for physically or emotionally impaired students and those with learning disabilities are offered at Howell schools at all grade levels in cooperation with the Livingston Educational Service Agency.

The Howell district also has a Community Education program that provides classes to everyone from pre-schoolers to senior citizens. As part of Community Education, the Little Howellers Child Care Center accepts children as young as two weeks of age. The latch-key program provides before and after school child care at all elementary schools.

There are also three private elementary schools serving students in the Howell area: St. Joseph's School, a Catholic elementary school for preschool to eighth-grade; Hidden Springs Christian School with kindergarten through fifth-grade; and Howell Nazarene Christian School with developmental kindergarten through sixth-grade.

Health care
McPherson Hospital, a 136-bed full-service hospital, is located at 620 Byron Road, close to downtown and within walking distance of Town Commons. The hospital is a part of the Saint Joseph Mercy Health System, which operates a major medical center near Ann Arbor. McPherson offers acute, emergency, medical-surgical, obstetrics and critical care services. There's also an urgent care facility next to the emergency room at the hospital. The University of Michigan Medical Center, located in downtown Ann Arbor, operates facilities in nearby Brighton.