St. Johns

I’m not sure why there are so many variations on this name–St. John, St. Johns, St. John’s. In any case, the one in Michigan, near Lansing, is a pretty town. Here are some of my favorite photos from my Saturday morning walkaround.

St. Johns is style “Mint City,” as it was a notable crop for area farmers.

There are prominent grain elevators at the edge of the business district, as with many towns in Michigan. Some birds were enjoying air out their wings atop one of the elevators.

The town has a brew pub and nightlife. Here’s one of the architecturally interesting pubs.

And like most downs it has some gorgeous old buildings, with small businesses and non-profits that serve the community.

This one caught my eye for the bright splash of red from the pizza store sign.

Then there’s the county courthouse. It’s grand, either recently built or renovated. And the main drag looks up to it. A little oddly, speakers up and down the street were playing music from a SiriusXM channel. I processed it a bit surreal, changing the hue towards blue and giving it a vivid look.

Here’s another shot of the clock tower, from the backside of some buildings nearby.

The town seems to be lively, economically. Part of that likely is its proximity to Lansing and East Lansing. I wondered it if is a bit of a bedroom community. Some small manufacturing facilities looked closed down or renovated to serve another purpose. But the grain elevators seem to still be working. So the town seems to remain important for local farmers. And there was a small farmer’s market.