Sean E. Liu interviews Larry Thomas inside the Ypsilanti Water Tower. Photo provided by Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau

Before I get into the real meat and potatoes of this story I feel I should give you a heads up and let you know that I love Ypsi. I love it almost as much as I love Detroit and I’m a huge fan of Detroit. So when I first heard about Voice of America filming in Ypsilanti for a segment to be aired overseas I knew I had to write about it.

Here’s what happened, Sean E Liu from the China Branch of Voice of America was in town for the North American International Auto Show. Once he was done he headed west to learn about the rich history of Ypsilanti. One of his main priorities was visiting the 1898 Water Tower. If you’ve been Eastern Michigan University you know exactly what water tower I’m talking about. If you have never been to Ypsi and don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s at the intersection of Summit Street, Cross Street and Washtenaw Avenue. To me and to almost everyone I know, that water tower is synonymous with Ypsilanti.

Ypsilanti Water Tower photo provided by Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau

From there Sean learned all about the culture and lore of Ypsilanti. He learned about the founding of the city at the crossroads of two Indian trails, the city’s namesake Demetrius Ypsilanti, the arrival of the railroad, and the gifting of the land that would eventually become the EMU campus.

Sean then visited some of my other favorite places in Ypsi like the Michigan Firehouse Museum where he met with curator Matt Lee. There Sean learned that Ypsilanti has one of the top fire museums in the country. Sean followed that up with at trip to one of my favorite bars, Sidetrack where he learned about the history of that great bar from co-owner Jessica French.

Sidetrack Bar and Grill Photo provided by Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau

There were plenty of other places Sean wanted to visit like the Bomber Restaurant and the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum but because of time restraints he couldn’t get to them. The footage that Sean did record will be used for a 5-10 minute feature story for a program called “Cultural Odyssey” that airs by satellite TV and internet in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, and Singapore on the Voice of America Network. The Voice of America is the United States’ non-commercial international network, currently broadcasting in 44 languages by radio, TV, and Internet to a global audience of over 100 million.