[Further North]

Hi everyone,

I’m interviewing for a job in Midland next Monday so I just wanted to get your impressions of the city.

To give you some background info on me I’m 30 years old, not married, and I have no intention of owning a home in the near future. And yes, while a “safe quiet neighborhood” is nice, I’m still (sort of) young enough to be more concerned with living someplace with a good bar scene vs. placing my priorities on living in a neighborhood with a good school district where my wife can push a stroller and walk a dog while carrying a Starbucks Latte.

I’m also a native Yooper, I went to college in Grand Rapids, and spent a summer in Royal Oak as well when I was working an internship in Troy. However when it comes to Midland and Bay City though, I’ve honestly only been through there twice. Over the years I lived down state my route home to the UP always took me up 131 to 55 then 75 N, so I really didn’t have a reason to stop there. Since Bay City has more nightlife I’d probably lean more towards living there because I’m single.

So have at it please.

What do you like about Midland and Bay City?

What do you HATE about them?

If you had to compare them to another Michigan Metro area, what do they most relate to?

Do you consider the area to be an interesting place to live?

What areas of either city would you recommend living in?

Anyplace in either city to avoid?

I’m aware of the Midland Center for the Arts, but are there any other prominent galleries, etc in either city or monthly art walks or gallery openings?

I don’t think much would discourage me from making the move to be honest though. Since leaving college in Grand Rapids I’ve lived in Chicago and Sheboygan (not the one that starts with a “C”!) about an hour north of Milwaukee. Bleak economic future and all, there are a lot of things that I love and miss about Michigan. And to me it will always truly be HOME. Even though I’d become a “Troll”, I’d still be glad to get back to Michigan. At least there I can join an entire bar full of drunks yelling at the Lions when they lose on Sundays, or I could put a paper bag on my head and Boo them at Ford Field myself.

[michmoldman]

Well, I dont live in Bay City...but my wife is from there, so we go pretty often. I really like it, and enjoy going. There seems to be quite a bit to do, and it is right on the bay...so thats a plus. Its also a great place because its close to "up north", and also the great spots in the thumb. I dont know anything about Midland, but I think it was named one of the top small towns in the U.S this year.

[VM1138]

I've lived in both places so I feel like I could give you a well balanced opinion.

Midland has the Center for the Arts and a lot of small-scale cultural stuff. But the bar scene is nothing compared to Bay City's. There's also nothing else to do in Midland beyond the Center for the Arts and the Great Lakes Loons baseball team.

Now, Bay City doesn't have the corporate backing that Midland does, but it's a lot more vibrant (though nowhere near as vibrant as Grand Rapids or even most decent sized cities). It's great in the summer, there are countless massive festivals, water-related sports, etc. It's got a nice nautical culture that Midland lacks, since Bay City is practically on the Saginaw Bay and has boats passing through town (draw bridges) frequently. It has a long and interesting history, which Midland really lacks.

Bay City struggles more than Midland because of the lack of funding, and so doesn't have a sports team or anything (they always lose out to Midland and Saginaw on such things), but it's a city that is changing every year. It's embracing it's history and culture by restoring the old, beautiful buildings and cleaning up some parks. The bad part about Bay City is that crime is increasing on the East Side (South End) as Saginaw's drug dealers find new markets.

As a 25 year old grad student, if I had to choose between the two I'd choose Bay City every time. There are some neat things in Midland, but not enough to justify living there. You could always hop on US-10 and drive 15 minutes to see them occasionally.

The second part is a bit more psychological: Bay City lies right on I-75 and so feels more connected to civiliation. Saginaw and Flint (and eventually Detroit) are relatively close and quick to get to. Midland is surrounding by trees and very, very, very small villages and feels much more isolated even though it's about as far from Saginaw as Bay City is.

EDIT: I forgot, M-13 runs straight up along Lake Huron, and so getting to the beautiful beaches of Tawas and Oscoda are easy to reach from Bay City as well, or you could choose the other side of the lake and go up to Casevile just as easily. Also, traffic in Midland is absolutely terrible. Traffic is too heavy for a town that size, and when there's not traffic everyone drives 5-10 under the speed limit, consistently. It took me 15 minutes to get from one side of Midland to the other, and it takes me only about 20 to get to the far side of Midland from my home in Bay City now.

EDIT 2: Oh, I forgot to warn you about bad parts of town. I'd stay away from the East Side of Bay City. It's not all bad, not by a long shot, but the spotty areas are more frequent and sneak up on you faster. I'd stay away from the South End, it used to be a really pleasant place but crime has been going up. It's "in transition" to becoming a worse place, I think. Stay on the West Side, if you can.

[danielj72]

I live about 30 miles south of that area(Bay city). Bay city is a nice town, they have alot of activity down by the water in the summer. In my opinion Bay city and Midland are both nice towns. I used to live in the UP as well so I know what your background is. I know many yoopers think all of downstate is a suburb of Detroit, but you will find Bay city is nothing like what you experienced in southeast Michigan. Bay city is in the Saginaw valley and that area is dominated by agriculture. The pace of life in the Saginaw valley is noticably slower than southeast Michigan, and the economy is worse than southeast Michigan as well. Now compared to the UP the area has more shopping and restauraunts, but it is overall a more relaxed kind of place. In the UP you are used to woods and tourists. The Saginaw valley is more open land and farmers. THat is the biggest difference. YOu will find that area to be very different from both the UP and metro Detroit.

[indigonation]

I used to live in Bay City and visited midland quite often. I actually liked Midland better for the scenery, I had a lot of fun times in Bay City though good memories.

[VM1138]

Bay City is also very, very, very, very, very flat, a big difference from almost every other part of Michigan.

[Further North]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone. What would you say my commute time from Bay City to Midland would be? I used to live in Chicago so driving 30-45 min. to work wouldn't kill me, I'd be more considered about putting miles on my car if anything.

[indigonation]

20-30 minutes depending on the traffic. When I was there it sometimes took over an hour do to freeway construction and traffic jams but that was almost 8 years ago when the bridge was being fixed. I assume they have it fixed better by now. By the way a really interesting fact I forgot to mention in my post is there used to be this whole block of abandon houses along the river near Lafayette Bridge when I lived there me and my friends used to love exploring these places (hoping we didn't get caught) and now its a park. So bay city is improving last I saw it. From visiting midland and talking to relatives (my mom grew up there so I know a little about it) one thing I know is it may be a little hard getting established socially in midland, its one of the nicest looking towns in Michigan but a lot of people there are retirees, and/or work at Dow Chemical plant, and are very conservative (i am talking in a dress, social, and religious sense) and not so easy to get to know and have been there most their lives and have their own friends. They are good people but it may be hard establishing friendships there. There are angry and stuck up people there too, one memory is getting yelled at at mc donalds as a kid and kicked out for throwing my socks in the ball pit. My parents had to go over there and straighten things out. Midland is a very different atmosphere from bay city.

[VM1138]

That's true as well. Midland is extraordinarily uptight. I've worked retail in both cities and Midland is by far worse than Bay City in their treatment of fellow human beings.

If you're looking to make friends, I'd suggest Bay City for that, too. During the summer especially people are really friendly and the streets and parks are full of people walking their dogs and socializing.

[wagonman76]

Originally Posted by VM1138

That's true as well. Midland is extraordinarily uptight. I've worked retail in both cities and Midland is by far worse than Bay City in their treatment of fellow human beings.

If you're looking to make friends, I'd suggest Bay City for that, too. During the summer especially people are really friendly and the streets and parks are full of people walking their dogs and socializing.

I've been to Bay City a handful of times and I thought it was pretty decent. Easy to get around. Everybody seemed pretty friendly. Years ago I used to know someone from there and they said the same thing regarding the people from Midland.