Did you know that Ionia, Michigan is home to the world's largest free fair? Now you do, and you can mark your calendar to attend this bargain-priced event!
Ionia is the seat of Ionia County, which sits toward the middle of Michigan's Lower Peninsula
Did you know that Ionia, Michigan is home to the world's largest free fair? Now you do, and you can mark your calendar to attend this bargain-priced event!
Ionia is the seat of Ionia County, which sits toward the middle of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. It's a small city that surrounds the Grand River, a behemoth of a waterway that flows through central Michigan, and that attracted the Native Americans who settled in the area 2,000 years ago. Today, many of Ionia's 11,394 residents use the Grand River for canoeing and hiking, much as the region's early inhabitants did. However, the Ionians of today also enjoy all the perks of a modern lifestyle, the likes of which their forebears could have only dreamed.
Sound exciting? Exciting enough to move to Ionia? If so, you're in luck. In terms of its housing market, Ionia has plenty of options. Newcomers looking for a 1 bedroom apartment or a 2 bedroom apartment for rent in Ionia can choose from several apartment complexes, like Valley View Apartments and Oak Hills Apartments. Some of these communities are located near the city's downtown area, giving them proximity to retail and dining establishments like those previously mentioned. Some are located in residential neighborhoods, while still others are located on the city's outskirts, in secluded areas surrounded by trees and foliage. House rental is also an option, with one or two bedrooms, or even entire homes, available for lease. Mobile homes are another alternative. Communities with mobile units can be found throughout the city and it environs, and occasionally offer homes for lease.
Once settled in your rental property, you won't have a problem with transportation, as Ionia is easily traveled by car, bicycle, or foot. For those residents who don't have vehicles, or who can't drive, the Ionia Dial-A-Ride transit service is a valuable resource that offers trips to locations of choice throughout the city from Monday through Saturday.
Ionia, which is county seat of Ionia County, doesn't have typical neighborhoods, per se -- anywhere you travel in town, you're bound to run into friendly folk. The city is divided among three townships -- Ionia, Easton, and Berlin -- but it remains politically autonomous of all three.
Ionia is a typical small city that blends elements of the past with the conveniences of today. Its historic downtown area contains locally owned restaurants and specialty retail stores, like Blue Water Caf, which offers hearty helpings of comfort food, and Keeper of the Crows, a shop that sells vintage- and antique-style decor. Meanwhile, Ionia's main drag boasts bright-and-shiny chain establishments like McDonald's, Meijer, and Dollar Tree. The city's two-screen cinema, the Ionia Theater, shows first-run releases in a brick building that looks like it stepped straight out of the 1950s. A few blocks away, at the Ionia Bowl 300, visitors take in the old-timey odors of shoe leather and lane grease while laser lights shine during "Cosmic Bowl" evenings. And while it may be true that residents use the Grand River and its tributaries for time-honored pursuits like fishing and swimming, the occasional flash of a neon tube dragged by a speedboat shows how far things have come since the days of fur pelts and birch bark canoes.
Despite its comfortable, Mayberry-like atmosphere, Ionia does have a claim to fame. It's home to an annual fair (creatively named the Ionia Free Fair) that's said to be the world's largest festival with no admission fee. Granted, once you're inside the gates, you'll pay five dollars for a snow cone and twenty dollars to win a decorative mirror with a skull and crossbones emblazoned across the front. Still, the lure of free entertainment like 4-H exhibitions, a circus, and an opening parade is strong enough that the fair draws thousands people throughout its 10-day span every year. The Free Fair has been a community institution since 1856 and its grounds are located on the banks of the Grand, near a memorial marking the location of a Native American village that greeted Ionia's first white settlers in 1833.
For a beautiful home in the country's heartland, get yourself to Ionia, Michigan!
