The Dexter Summer Festival is almost here, and oh how the summer celebration has grown since its humble beginnings.

The Dexter Summer Festival, formerly Dexter Daze, returns on August 9 & 10, but its roots stretch far back almost as long as there has been a Dexter, MI.

In the decades before 1972, Dexter’s summer celebration centered on a sidewalk sale, which was dubbed “Sidewalk Days.” Merchants displayed their goods at special prices in front of their stores to draw people into town. They were looking to clear their summer inventory to make room for fall and winter things. People gathered in the village for the fun, and the annual event grew as the village grew.

In 1972, the Dexter Chamber of Commerce expanded the annual sidewalk sale into “Discover Dexter Days” to promote local businesses and draw visitors from the surrounding communities on a larger scale. The event was held on the first weekend in August that year, and activities included old-time movies, a pie-baking contest, square dancing, a parade, and much more.

A couple of years later, in 1974, the festival was greatly enlarged for the sesquicentennial celebration of Dexter’s first settlement. The name was shortened to “Dexter Daze.”

In the half-century since then, Dexter’s population has almost tripled. The original committee of a few has become a new generation of hard-working and civic-minded people with the Chamber of Commerce dedicated to preserving their community’s core values.

For 2024, the celebratory gathering has another name change. Organizers have retired the colloquial “Dexter Daze” in favor of more formal “Dexter Summer Festival.” But no matter what you call it, the two-day event is the high point of the city’s summer.

Local businesses enthusiastically support the festival but so do many individuals, demonstrating the importance many feel of maintaining good family fun featuring activities, games, crafts, food, and music for the entire family to enjoy together. The festival draws artisans from all over Michigan, offering a wide variety of unique pieces to browse and buy.

But as much as Dexter Daze has to offer, the biggest delight might be the thrill of passing a friend or two for a quick “catching-up” on the sidewalk or park grass, phones down, face-to-face.

You know, just like the old days.