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CLINTON TOWNSHIP — Held on Sept. 28, Oct. 12 and Oct. 26, the Prince Drewry Park Market Days bring together local entrepreneurs and artisans to sell their goods within the community.
“We are going to be hosting about 40 vendors at the park that are local businesses and entrepreneurs, and even students in some cases, to sell their products and to advertise their services,” Mike Keys, Clinton Township Trustee and co-chair of the Prince Drewry Advisory Committee, said. “We are trying to supplement that part of the event with other activities like youth and senior programing, so we brought in a lot of nonprofits and government organizations to provide things like basketball tournaments.”
Inspired by farmers markets like the one in Dodge Park, the three-day biweekly series is the most recent initiative put forth by the Prince Drewry Advisory Committee to improve the park.
“We experienced Dodge Park’s event and … I had a good time,” Co-chair Iona Means said. “It was a beautiful thing with all the people coming around and just enjoying themselves. So we said, ‘Hey, let’s do this at our park. Let’s start this up and watch it grow and expand and just let it grow.’”
Market Days vendors cover a wide range of niches, from fashion brand Quindecim Red to food companies like Mad Crab Spice Company and Jammin Jerry’s Jam, to hygiene brands like Buff City Soaps. Keys says that the majority of vendors participating are either based in or have locations in Clinton Township.
Slaw Dogz has also arranged for around seven food trucks to be present on each of the days. Some of the nonprofits making an appearance include the Michigan State University Extension 4-H program, Macomb Community Action, TCB Youth Mentoring, LK St. Clair Soccer and the Clintondale Coalition.
Located within a historically Black neighborhood of Clinton Township and named after one of Michigan’s first Black politicians, Prince Drewry Park is partially located on top of a former landfill site and across from a former incinerator. The past life of the site has presented challenges for residents and township officials looking to improve Prince Drewry Park.
“Similar to Freedom Hill and the county park they have there, we can’t dig into the ground a whole lot,” Keys said.
Methane gas leaks have been a concern since the park was built, with the state installing vents at the site in 2019. Keys said there also can be issues getting approval to move township resources south of 16 Mile Road due to its proximity from the main offices.
“Really, what we’ve had to deal with was changing the attitudes and culture of making these events happen,” Keys said.
In 2021 the Prince Drewry Advisory Committee was established to help the park by working around these issues to improve the park and the surrounding area.
“We’ve basically been able to lobby for some great successes,” Keys said. “We have the construction of Quinn Road that the county has been doing and is going to be finishing up here in the next couple of months. We have the senior center that has been offering free exercise opportunities at the park throughout October and September, and then we just had the parks and recreation movie night there last July.”
Events have been a big part of the committee’s work at the park, and it sees the Market Days series as a potential annual event.
“These Market Days are going to be a yearly event for us, and we can see it growing just as it has for other communities,” Means said. “That’s kind of our goal at this particular point, watching the Market Days continue to grow and as a community get more involved in it.”
Prince Drewry Park is located at 22013 Quinn Road. The park advisory committee is still accepting new vendors, who can email QRDCommunity@gmail.com.
