Here in the strawberry field at Spicer Orchards in Fenton, families are marking the unofficial start of summer.

Watch the full story from Christiana Ford in the video player below 'They're very juicy': U-Pick strawberry season is officially here

"I've been doing this since I was five," said Kara Kinsan, who was picking strawberries.," said Kara Kinser, who was pioking strawberries. "It's been a good day."

After about two hot hours in the orchard, Kinser has enough strawberries for her family's annual tradition.

"We'll bake strawberry pies, strawberry shortcakes, we'll do strawberry cake"

She's one of the many visitors already stopping by the patch for the early strawberry season.

"The strawberries are pretty good, they're very juicy," Lucy told me.

"I just kinda went running around and just grabbed the bigger ones," Mia said.

Spcier Orchards in Fenton is one of few in metro Detroit kicking off the U-Pick season, managing their 10 acres. The 300-acre family farm is known for you pick just about everything you can grow in Michigan.

"You get on the wagon, yep, you go out and pick and then, and then you'll wait for the wagon to bring you back up and then they'll weigh in when you get up here and that's when you'll pay for your berries,"

Third-generation farmer Ryan Spicer says their 10 acres of strawberries are thriving despite the colder tempatrues.

"The average temperature has stayed pretty low so far, but not looking at this next week, we look like we're getting into our normal Michigan 80 degree, you know, summer, which we've been kind of waiting for because that's what kind of makes all these berries and stuff start moving and you need the heat to ripen them up and your average degree temperature has to be up too," Spicer said.

Spicer says they got creative, using an irrigation system that rose the temperature around the strawberries and frost fans.

"We'll be picking for probably another 3 weeks, of course, depending on the weather," Spicer said. "If it gets super hot and stays super hot, they cook a lot faster, so that could shorten the season, but if it stays colder at nights, they don't ripen as fast."

So far people are hauling in big lots. At $3.99/pound, you can ger one pick flat for about $48.

"This is our most successful year so far, yeah it was a lot more fun," said Jamie Malover. "It's a good feeling because then you get to make your strawberry jams and strawberry pie."

Spicer's tip: come early to beat the crowds and the heat.

Where Your Voice Matters

Madison Heights is celebrating the grand opening of eight new pickleball courts at Rosie's Park, part of a larger investment in recreational spaces throughout the city.

The $351,000 pickleball court project comes alongside the construction of the $7.2 million investment in Red Oaks Park.

"This really fills a void. It's great for people to be able to come close to home and play again on just stunning courts," said Frank Fidel, President of the Southeastern Michigan Pickleball Association.

The new courts address a growing demand for free public pickleball facilities, one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States.

"It is very big. We've got courts going up all over Michigan," Fidel said.

Bob Boguslawski, who lives in Madison Heights, appreciates the addition to the community.

"I think it's great. The only other outdoor courts around are in Royal Oak and there's one in Troy," Boguslawski said.

City officials say the pickleball courts were funded mainly through grants and were developed in response to community requests.

"We really were getting calls to have a multi-generational space for people outdoors, so not just playscapes and baseball fields but really something that could come together and start building community," said Melissa Marsh, City Manager of Madison Heights.

The Red Oaks Garden Project will transform the seven-acre Ambassador Park with open play space, trails, walking paths, seating areas, and a playground. It's funded by the Oakland County Parks Healthy Communities Park and Outdoor Recreation Investment Plan.

Construction is planned for 2025 and 2026. The anticipated investment of $3.75M includes $2.75M from the American Recovery Plan Act and $1M from Oakland County Parks capital improvement fund.

Residents expressed enthusiasm about the developments.

"Looks like they're spending some money, and I like it. It's very cool," said long-time resident Kevin Lang.

Marsh says Madison Heights is focusing on quality of life improvements.

"Madison Heights, unlike a lot of communities, are built out so we don't have any room for subdivisions or more housing or more businesses, so we really have doubled down to invest on quality of life programming. We have a lot of parks in Madison Heights and we are coming back to those parks and making sure that they have features that are available to the residents so every park doesn't have to have everything, but everything needs to be located in your city somehow and accessible to the residents," Marsh said.

Marsh says much of the funding is coming from outside sources, keeping costs maintained for taxpayers.

"The majority of money is through grant funding, but we do strategically have a capital improvement plan and we have been investing back in parks, so a lot of it is grant matching money and we have money set aside by that strategically from our city council, so when grant opportunities do come available we can match that. So when we asked Oakland County to help us fund these pickleball courts, we had to show that we were committed and that we had money to match the grant that they were gonna give us," said Marsh.

The Southeast Michigan Pickleball Association awarded a $16,200 grant for a wind screen. They will also host summer programming at the courts.

The city is currently seeking community feedback for future projects in the coming years through their master plan survey.

This story was reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

A massive space that sat vacant for years at 12 Oaks Mall in Novi will soon be transformed with new stores and entertainment options, breathing new life into the nearly 50-year-old shopping center.

Watch Christiana Ford's video report: Community reacting to new proposal for development at 12 Oaks Mall

The former Sears location, which closed in 2019, will be leased to Dick's House of Sport, UK-based Primark, and Round One Bowling and Arcade.

"It was nice, you'd go shopping," said Kathy Hoener, who has been wondering what would become of the empty space. "Clothing, appliances, just about anything. We were sad to see it go."

The building, owned by Transformco, will house Dick's House of Sport on the lower level, with Primark and Round One Bowling and Arcade planned for the upper level.

"I think it's wonderful. Revitalizes the mall and makes people happy," Hoener said.

Dick's House of Sport will occupy approximately 100,000 square feet with in-store experiences including a climbing wall, multiple golf bays, outdoor field with a track, ice rink, and multi-sport cage where athletes can try products while measuring and tracking their performance.

"I think it's necessary just to keep people moving. I think a lot of people getting lazy with just this online shopping stuff. But the mall needs to have more stuff like that so that people can actually get to moving and they'll actually enjoy the mall," said Brandon Baldwin Jr., a shopper.

Kelsey Ames, Marketing & Sponsorship Manager at Twelve Oaks Mall, says they've been working with the city of Novi and all partners involved in the move, which represents an evolution in mall trends toward a more experience-based retail model.

"I mean it's a Friday afternoon and we're bustling, and it's because we're sticking to what do consumers want to see again? It's not just retail anymore; it's the experiences. So again by bringing in things like your Primark and your Round 1, your Dick's House of sport, not just a retail concept, but experiences, people still want to get out. They want to touch and feel the product. They want to see it firsthand, and they want something they can take with them right away, you know, and I think that's important. You want a product, you want to be able to grab it and go," Ames said.

This is a model they plan to keep in mind as they continue working to fill vacancies like the big footprint left behind by major retailer Forever 21.

"We work very, very closely with our leasing teams to kind of come up with new and innovative ideas to come into the shopping centers. So there's a lot of talks going on behind the scenes, a lot of new and exciting brands that do want to come here. So we're in a really, really good spot right now," Ames said.

Marquise Cook, who owns Alpha Parfum and has a vendor booth at Twelve Oaks, says despite trends of some malls struggling, he's noticing new businesses opening around him.

"We've had two stores come up over us. We've had, obviously, Pottery Barns relocate from the smaller store that they have to this much larger store," Cook said.

He's also looking forward to increased foot traffic the new lineup will bring in - not only for his business but for the evolution of the mall as a community hub.

"This is that community meet and greet. That old traditional meet and greet, like how you might meet your next wife. You might walk around and run into somebody, an old classmate. It's a great place for the community," Cook said.

Construction is already underway. Dick's House of Sport, Round One and Primark are all expected to open by fall of 2026.

"I love it. I'm intrigued," Cook said.

This story was reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

A regional deer cull is moving forward in Oakland County as cities work to address the growing deer population, but some residents are organizing to advocate for alternative solutions.

Watch Christiana Ford's video report: Controversy growing as more communities consider deer culls

Farmington Hills started working with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in 2015 when they suggested collecting data and researching the issue. Ten years later, they're implementing what they learned.

"As we did that, we saw an incline in that data with deer vehicle collisions, we had more and more residents calling about concerns about deer," said Bryan Farmer, Department of Special Services for Farmington Hills.

Deer-car collisions have been on the rise in Oakland County, with more than 2,000 in 2023. Now, the city of Farmington Hills is putting that research into action, moving forward with plans to use trained USDA sharpshooters in 2026 and public safety archery hunters in 2027 in an annual urban deer cull.

"Based on our research across the country, they're not successful using nonlethal measures. When you look at overpopulation, the only way to control the population is through lethal means; if you use nonlethal measures, the only one that is actually permitted would be sterilization." Farmer said."Each deer in 2016 was $1500 to sterilize each deer in Ann Arbor, and when you multiply that on the number of deer that we would need to sterilize, that's pretty costly, and on top of that, that doesn't address the overpopulation issue."

Farmington Hills is one of three cities within the larger Southeast Michigan Urban Deer Coalition that joined together on a coordinated cull to control the urban deer population.

"Looking at Farmington Hills, Farmington, and Southfield in that regional effort, we're all neighbors, and the deer do not know the borders. So it helps that we're all doing that, and we also have other interested communities like Livonia, Birmingham, so there's several other communities that, as we move forward, as they start to make decisions, it'll help with the overpopulation of deer across the whole region," Farmer said.

But it's a push some residents in nearby communities are actively organizing to try to stop from growing.

"I was appalled, and I decided we need to get a group of people together and stop this from happening," said Inez Garfield, an Oak Park resident.

Garfield, with the Advocates for Michigan Wildlife, lives in Oakland County and is helping coordinate a public meeting to push for support for non-lethal measures.

"I'm a regular community member. I've never had to do this before, but I just think it's getting out of control," Garfield said. "It's never too late."

One idea the group researched and hopes sticks is sterilization.

"If you add the cost of doing culls year after year after year for 25 years in perpetuity forever - it ends up costing a lot more than if you were just to sterilize the original 50 deer," said Michelle Dimaria, a West Bloomfield resident who has done a lot of the group's research.

As the deer culls come to more cities, Chad Steward with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources says their role will continue to be a source of education.

FULL INTERVIEW: Chad Stewart with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources talks about deer culls FULL INTERVIEW: Chad Stewart with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources talks about deer culls

"We present them with several different options, both lethal and non-lethal, for them to consider and what the likely efficacy might be for those things, and they take that information to heart, evaluate it, and ultimately make the decision what they feel is best for their community," Steward said.

A meeting is set for Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Bloomfield Township Library on ways to advocate for alternative solutions.

This story was reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.