Smushed between Lansing and Detroit is a county many people drive through to get from one city to the other. Little do these people know it is much more than another Midwestern town. Here are some of the great things about Livingston County, MI you are sure to remember if you grew up here.

1. Green Oak Roundabouts

You had to master these nightmares on the third drive of Drivers Ed. If you ever wanted to go shopping at the Green Oaks Mall, you had no option but to learn the ways through the well known "circles of death". If you're a car guy, you love every opportunity to race around these scaring the crap out of the confused Costco shoppers.

2. Rollerama

The community roller rink. This place was like the Chuck E. Cheese of Livingston County, you were not cool unless you held one birthday party at this place. It was also the place were elementary aged kids would come for school fund raisers to show off their "rad" blading skills in front of their classmates.

3. Zukey Lake Tavern

The best place to be during the summer is on Zukey Lake! While Pinckney is not the most popular place to hang out in Livingston County, it is home to probably the most entertaining lake in the county. After a long day on the lake, you have more than likely stopped at Zukey Lake Tavern if you grew up around Livingston County.

4. MJR

The only theater our county has is still one of the "it" places to hang on a Friday night. Those of us who grew up around the area have at least one friend who has worked for the theater that has either let us movie hop, given us free popcorn, or given us a discounted rate for movie tickets. MJR, I think it's fair to say thank you for saving us from boredom and for making Brighton even more cool.

5. Mt. Brighton

We live in The Mitten State so we are used to the cold and snow. In order to enjoy the snow, Livingston County kids typically learn to ski or snowboard at an early age. Mt. Brighton is the place to be on a snow day shredding down the powdery hills with your friends.

6. Tanger Outlets

Before Green Oaks came to Brighton, a majority of Livingston County shopped at Tanger to get their shopping fix. The deals at these outlets is always incredible though, and when Black Friday rolls around good luck finding a parking space. If you are one of the lucky ones to find a parking space, good luck trying to avoid the people you know at the stores.

7. Friday Night High School Football

Friday Night Football is a staple in the Midwestern States but in Livingston County we truly love our sports. In fact we love our sports teams so much, we name things like drink, food, and ice cream after them. I have a soft spot for Hartland High School so GO EAGLES!

8. Fantasy of Lights Parade

This parade is what brings all of Livingston County together around the Holiday Season. There is nothing like sitting along the street with your family and friends watching the electric floats glide down the street. Rain, hail, snow, and freezing temperatures, people of the community still show up to see Santa and his dazzling reindeer make their way down Grand River to welcome Christmas to Livingston County.

9. Balloon Fest

After a long school year, Livingston County kicks off the summer season with Howell's Annual Balloon Festival. People from all over Livingston County and even across the state of Michigan gather to watch the colorful balloons float through the sky. It's an event we Livingston County folk look forward to every year.

10. Brighton Millpond

Growing up, every kid wanted to go to the Brighton Mill Pond to feed the ducks and swing on the swings at the Imagination Station. Even now that I am older, I still love to walk along the bridges in the crisp spring air and go fishing with friends here.

11. Hartland Walmart

While this Walmart was 10x nicer than the Howell and Fowlerville Walmarts combined, for some reason corperate decided to shut Hartland's Walmart down. Now it's the place for mostly the Hartland teenagers to explore and meet up. Do not ask me why, it just seems like the place to meet up with your squad nowadays.

12. 93.5 WHMI

Not many counties I know have their own radio station, but we do! While most of us do not listen to it, we all know it's catchy theme song, "93.5 WHMI Howell Brighton". This station is great for birthday's though, especially if your name got called on this station they would give you a free birthday cake from Marv's Bakery in Brighton. Needless to say, this little radio station still holds a special place in all our hearts.

13. Howell High School Senior Survivor

If you grew up in the area, chances are you knew at least one person who went to Howell High School and every spring they always seemed to wear a different colored shirt that read "Howell High School 20__ Senior Survior". Whats cool about this tradition is, every year the senior class of Howell High School picks around 15 kids to compete in a "Survivor" inspired event. These seniors raise money by selling their team color t-shirts to help a charity usually in the Livingston County Area. Even people who don't go to the high school can watch this event just like the actual TV show on their Youtube Channel under the name HHS Senior Survivor (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSb1ZY_eqv3BygpZk...) and see if their senior won the title of "Ultimate Survivor".

14. Crystal Gardens

Chances are if you recogize this building, you went to prom here. A majority of Livingston County prom are held here in this beautiful place. Not sure why this place really means a lot to us, maybe it was because proms symbolize the end of high school and this was the last time we spent a magical evening with all our friends we grew up in Livingston County with before heading our seperate ways. Deep down, we all hold the time spent in this place dear to our hearts.

15. Fowlerville Fair

Livingston County is a pretty big agricultural based county, so it's only fitting we have a fair to celebrate our farming roots. A lot of us have friends who live on farms and participate in 4H Club, and the Fowlerville Fair is where their talents are put on display. It's a fun summer time event to hang out with friends, pet some animals, and dig into some deep fried fair food. If you live in Livingston County and haven't gone to the fair at least once, do you really even live here?

If you have moved across the state, nation, country, or world, Livingston County always welcomes you home with open arms. No matter how long it's been since you have been back, people are always happy to see you here. While we may all support different town sports teams, we are still a community who loves and cares about one another. So, thank you Livingston County for providing us all with a lifetime supply of memories and friends.