A Farm Grows In Hamtramck

And after years of passing by the empty lots wondering what they could be, ad man Mike Davis met with Mayor Karen Majewski last year and worked out an agreement with the city to try and make Hamtramck the pawpaw capital of metro Detroit.

“Much of what makes a community vibrant happens in the neighborhood, on your blocks,” Majewski told the Free Press before ceremonially planting a pawpaw seedling to kick off the work day Saturday. “Hamtramck will survive and evolve because of efforts like this.”

After her welcome, crews dispersed to plant sunflowers and hazelnut bushes, to knock concrete off reclaimed bricks that would form borders and walkways, and to lay down felt and a cement border for a pavilion of sorts in the middle of the farm.