Community Commerce Showcased at Taste of BHMS Event

The Bloomfield Hills Middle School gym transformed to a bazaar of local commerce Friday as vendors from both home-based, and bricks-and-mortar businesses participated in the second 'Taste of BHMS' event.

Forty local businesses in all set up stations in two rings of tables around the hardwood and displayed their product or service, and offered their time to chat with parents and residents from 6-9 p.m. Similar to last year's event, residents that sell clothing, jewelry or bags from their homes showed up, as did representatives from established and new businesses in the Bloomfield area. 

"It's a really good way to really meet people in the community and come out to support local businesses at the same time," said Jen Schrader, the mother of a  BHMS student who also is an independent distributor of organizational bags and totes with Thirty-One Gifts.

Co-coordinators Lisa Kirsch-Satawa and Trish Keranen said it also serves a broader purpose, particularly for middle school families, at the beginning of the school year.

"At elementary school there's usually an ice cream social so everyone meets everyone else at the beginning of the year, but there really isn't something like that when you come to middle school and are combining those elementary schools," Kirsch-Satawa said. "We wanted to do something."