Mike Endres grew up in Wyoming, Michigan and lived there until he went to college at
Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids. Later, he and his wife bought a house in Wyoming. “It’s not quite the house in the country we wanted, but there’s so much wilderness around here it’s like where the city meets the country,” he says.
Wyoming offers a little something for everyone. If you’re looking for more of the cosmopolitan big-city feel,
Grand Rapids (the second-largest city in Michigan) is mere minutes away. But if you also love that more secluded country feel, Wyoming offers all of the wonders of Michigan’s wilderness. “I looked outside my window one night and had six deer, two rabbits and a skunk in my front yard!”
Mike owns the web design company
Blue Vortex. He started it in 2007 and built up his client base from word of mouth. He started by managing just a couple of websites and now handles 30-40 in just four years, which is just enough for him. “I really don’t advertise,” he says. “I can really only take on one client every month and I get all that through word of mouth.”
While at GVSU he got a Bachelor’s degree in Communications (with a focus in film and video production). “My minor was in computer programming, but I thought that would just be a hobby and I ended up dropping it so I could finish [my degree] on time.” While he was in school he interned at Wyoming’s public TV station
WKTV as part of his film and video degree, then he worked on a website for the
Michigan Paranormal Alliance. “This was long before the first ‘Ghost Hunters’ show was made. It was the coolest website made for ghost hunting
ever!” He then designed a site for WKTV and has since redone it a few times, “making it cooler.” (He is still the webmaster of WKTV, which undoubtedly has one of the coolest websites for a community access channel possibly ever.)
WKTV is one of the oldest, most continuously-operating community television stations in the U.S. “It’s very cool; it’s not just run-of-the-mill public access,” Mike states. And that’s just one of the surprising things about Wyoming. Until 2008, Wyoming was home to the
first megaplex movie theatre in the country, Studio 28, which was once the largest theatre in the world and for years held the world’s record for the largest single day attendance (for the
Lion King in 1990). Mike worked at Studio 28 for years, which probably served as the impetus for his interest in film and video. The theatre may be closed, but they still hold the
Beltline Flea Market in the parking lot every Saturday and Sunday in the summer.
One place Mike recommends is
Frankie V’s on 28th, a restaurant and sports bar known for their excellent pizza that is located right next to Studio 28 and managed to survive even after the theatre closed.
Main Street Pub is another popular spot, especially for their karaoke.
36th Street Lounge is a newer place with good bar food and live entertainment nightly.
Anazeh Sands West has been Wyoming’s championship billiards hall since 1963, with a pro shop, league play, and several different sizes of APA-, BCA-, WPA-regulation and amateur pool tables. And the
Windy City Grille is a popular eatery for some Chicago-style grub like lamb gyros, Italian beef sandwiches, and Chicago-style Vienna Beef hot dogs. The
Burlingame Dairy Dip is a family-owned ice cream and dessert shop, a Wyoming summertime tradition.
Also fun in the summertime are the new “splash pads” the
Wyoming Parks & Recreation added in Lamar Park, Southlawn Park and Oriole Park, which are free to visit and offer waterplay without any standing water (think of it like a waterpark without the pool). The
28th Street Metro Cruise is a huge summer festival. Inline hockey is also very popular in Wyoming (hockey on skates), and
Marquette Park offers an inline hockey rink. In the nearby city of Grandville,
Rivertown Sports also offers an inline hockey rink as well as cagefighting. And for the ultimate in high-tech interactive entertainment, the city of Wyoming is actually offer “
geocaching” classes in April 2012, which is a kind of scavenger hunt done through GPS.
One of Mike’s favorite things about Wyoming is the potential for very organic networking. “You can get to know all the big businesses and you can really get a lot done and work together,” he says. “It’s not hard to get to know the big players in town. There’s a great networking potential in Wyoming; you just need to get out and get to know people.” Mike is also running for Wyoming Precinct Delegate, just on the strength of his web design work and people getting to know him through that.