[campaignmanager]

I grew up in Vassar and a majority of my family is still there. It's a nice town for families to be in. There isn't a lot of crime and the schools (and staff) are excellent. Yes it has flooded in the past, but that doesn't happen anymore. And yes you need to plan on commuting 30 minutes to get to a "major" town, but when you live in the thumb, you expect that.

The bad thing about Vassar is that the businesses are closing down. It's sad to see the downtown area with empty front windows. Vassar needs young blood to breath life back into it. If it weren't for Michigan's crumby economy, I'd go back to Vassar and raise my family.

[mimberly]

Vassar is a small town. It is hilly and there isn't a great amount to do there. The closest bigger town is Caro and Saginaw is about 30-40 mns away.

[tiamot]

I know, I know, older thread but as a resident I feel I have to put in my two cents. Maybe it'll even help a few other people!
I was born and raised here, and after living overseas for a time, I returned to my home town and still live here.

I hear a lot of people talking about how small and boring Vassar is! To an extent that's true. We are a small city. However there are plenty of things going on under the surface that are either not mentioned or perhaps are unknown.

Yes, indeed, as is common with small towns most people here know each other to some degree. However no tourist or new person can expect to be harassed. Crime is very low and one can safely walk around town and on the rail trail and feel safe.

Flooding has been an issue in the past, but don't get the idea that the town floods every spring. The last big flood we had was in 1986 when downtown was waterlogged and many homes along the river got hit. Since then there has been no major flooding issues and the city has taken steps to ensure that it will not be an issue again. A dyke has been built along the river and a section of the Moore Drain (a creek) has been dredged and an overflow pool created. Any river has the potential to flood, that's just a fact of nature, however if anyone considering the area is that worried about floods I must point out that half the town sits on a large hill that is not at risk for floods.

The school system here is decent and larger than one would expect, with three separate buildings for various grades and a rather new school for 3-6th grades. The high school was added on to about ten or so years ago. The kids in town aren't vagrant and are generally well behaved. We also have a very nice library which just added on a near million dollar addition. The library regularly offers free or very cheap classes to the public which range from art to yoga, and also offers bus trips, and free concerts in the spring. We have a farmers market that is on Saturdays now, public city band concerts in the summer, a historical society that is working on a museum, and several parks which offer pavilions, outdoor grilling, and play areas. The rail trail is a popular outdoor walking/biking place and passes by two parks. The city also has a fair in the summer and a bike rally. In August we hold Riverfest, with vendors, amusement rides, professional canoe races, rubber duck race, a car show, and raffles. Vassar also holds it's winter Yuletide Celebration and Art Walk a the beginning of December with a tree lighting ceremony and various artistic displays hosted by local businesses throughout the town with many free refreshments and a free shuttle to take people from one end of the event to the other. The town also has an art council which hosts showings of art by local artists. The art council is currently working on plans to hold community theater, an art fair featuring a kinetic sculpture race, and a film festival.

As previously mentioned, there are several restaurants to dine at: Chinese, Mexican, Pizza, and burgers and fries. We have an Ice Cream parlor and a newly renovated movie theater. The prices to get into the theater are very reasonable! Sadly, there isn't much by the way of big time shopping here. We don't have a mall, but we do have a small clothing store, a scrap booking store, and a five and dime store down town. Its a struggle for small towns to get business going, and the town is trying its best to renovate and get business going in the downtown area.

Vassar isn't a fast paced town. The residents here enjoy the quiet atmosphere and a touch of nature. The town is a great place to visit if you want a quiet place to relax and picnic, or take in a cheap movie and an ice cream.

[karen pace]

in the early 1900's had family in VASSAR, CARO, WATROUSVILLE, SAGINAW, FLINT, ETC. FATHER NEVER TOLD OF MI RELATIVES SEEKING INFORMATION
HAVE MANY PICTURES WHO ?????
KPACE

[wahwah70]

I spent the first 22 years of my life in Vassar. The only good things about the town is it's quiet and most of the people are friendly!
The Police are corrupt along with most of the Officials, well at least they were when I left the town for good in 2002!
And property taxes are on a seemingly endless climb with no end in sight.

Stores: I believe there is only one grocery store left. Shop-rite, which is a Spartan brand store!
There's a Family Dollar, but enter at you own risk. It's one of the most disorganized stores I've ever seen complete with boxes cluttering the floor. Which makes navigation imposable most of the time!
There's a small Five & Dime type store called Fairway. There's a building supply and also a True Value hardware store.
There's a party store called Vic's . Vic's is the place all the underage kids went to buy there Cigarette's! And there's a ever revoling line up of Mom and Pop type stores. The average life expediency for these types of stores is about two years. So don't get used to them!

Restaurant's: My Aunt used to own Betty Lou's restaurant. When she first opened it, it was a good place to eat. But it quickly went down hill. I can't speak of it now!
There's a McDonald's. Subway, Little Caesars, an Italian restaurant called Beagio's, a truck stop-ish restaurant called Halfway and a Chinese restaurant. The latter being solely responsible for my swearing off of Chinese food!

Entertainment:
I haven't been in the Theater since I was a kid(last Movie I saw was Lethal Weapon 3 shortly before they closed it) but it was cool back in the day! They're are a Number of small parks, the best of which is Stick park. IVY(video store/Pizza) is top notch. That's about it as far as entertainment!

Gas Station's: Speedway and Shell are open 24/7! Halfway Truck stop sells gas, But I don't know many people outside of my dads friends who get it there!

Schools: Well since it was the only Public School I attended I can't really compare it to another! The Middle School was built about 10 years ago and is the most modern of the three. Townsend North(Young five's to 3rd grade) is out-dated as is the High School and Junior High building. However there's a really nice track that's made out of recycled tires!

There are some factory's! The largest by far is Means, not quite sure what they build. The only other one I can think of that is still around is Aztec Steel. I think they do something with Steel...lol

They remodeled the Library about ten years ago and did a really nice job.
There's a LOT(I MEAN A LOT) of Churches that run the gamut of denomination's!


Over all Vassar is a decent place to raise a family. My biggest problem with the city is the underlined race issue. The majority of African Americans that live there live in a certain area. In fact I was about 15 before I realized that any African Americans lived in my town... Sad, I know!
I enjoyed my time in Vassar, for the most part, But since I've discovered the world outside Vassar's City Limits there is no way I would ever live there again... It's to reclusive and outdated. Even by small town standards!