Downtown Clawson to Celebrate Joining Oakland County Main Street Communities

Downtown Clawson can expect to see new perks after being named the 12th Main Street Oakland County (MSOC) community.

The county program, which has been around for about 11 years, offers assistance for communities looking to develop their downtown areas.

City and county leaders will celebrate this milestone at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday during a special event and news conference at . The celebration will feature local restaurants with food-tasting tables and a performance by the band.

For the past two years, Clawson has been involved in the Main Street Oakland County Mentoring Program where downtown leaders were educated on all the opportunities available to Main Street communities. Communities must serve a maximum of two years in the mentoring program to qualify. Main Street Oakland County provides services such as architectural consulting, assistance for entrepreneurs looking to open a business in town and helps communities obtain grant money for projects.

"It’s really going to be a great advantage to the city of Clawson," said Bill Mullan, a spokesman for Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson.

Speakers at Wednesday's event will include Patterson; Clawson Downtown Development Authority Director Joan Horton; Bob Donohue, MSOC coordinator; Jerry Dettloff, MSOC consultant; and Mary Liz Curtin, co-owner of Leon & Lulu.

"Everybody on the DDA is quite excited," Horton said. "It's an achievement."

Other communities that are already a part of the Main Street program are Ferndale, Franklin, Holly, Highland, Lake Orion, Rochester, Farmington, Ortonville, Walled Lake, Oxford and Pontiac.