KEEGO HARBOR, Mich. – Despite a whole lot of orange barrels and road-closed signs in the area, one Oakland County community wants everybody to know, yes, they are open for business as Keego Harbor finds itself surrounded by roadwork.
Necessary bridge work and road repair have Cass Lake Road between Orchard Lake Road and Waterford Township looking like a maze.
The signs talk about detours and closures, but Keego is still open for business.
“I think the main thing is it confuses people,” said Chef Jeremy Grandon.
Grandon owns barbecue destination J Bird Smoked Meats.
“The signage is kind of ambiguous because it says road closed, but it’s not for another mile,” Grandon said.
Grandon’s restaurant survived the pandemic with a robust takeout business, and his customers are still finding their way to J Bird, but the construction is slowing things down a bit. It started in mid-August as a courtesy to the city.
“Originally, they wanted to do the project starting right around July 1st,” said City Councilman Rob Kalman. “We worked with the business owners, the community, and the road commission, and we had several meetings, and we pleaded with the contractor to actually start in August as opposed to July 1st.”
Construction is expected to be done by the end of September. Until then, don’t be surprised to see Keego businesses offer all sorts of specials as an added incentive to keep customers coming.
“We plan on doing a little more,” Grandon said. “Because of this we might have time to do more of those things.”
