A True Westfield Love Story {The FestiFall}

For the first time in nearly a decade of business, Michael Robert Construction will have their own booth at the annual Westfield FestiFall.  It's exciting and a little bit nerve wracking to set up shop in front of thousands of people, but for me it is especially symbolic.

It symbolizes a 16 year long love story of couple of love-struck teenagers, one from Westfield's North Side, and one from the South Side.  But for my now-husband Mike and I, we overcame our obstacles (the train tracks?? separate middle schools??) and stood the test of time.

Rewind 16 years to September 22, 1997.  Dressed in a baby doll tee, oversized bellbottom jeans, and probably too much dark lipstick, my mom dropped me off behind Baron's with all the other preteen Westfielders, where I had arranged to meet up with some friends to "walk around town" at the FestiFall.  The plan was to scarf some funnel cake, shop at Nirvana, scope out the goldfish for sale at Woolworth's, score a new single (cassette!) or two from Sam Goody, and hopefully run into Mike Mroz, the guy I had been thinking about since I ran into him on the high school's front steps on the first day of school less than three weeks earlier.

I had met him at the Night Place in 6th grade, danced with him at a 13th birthday party at the Knights of Columbus in 7th grade, and heard (tall?) tales of him through friends on the other side of town in the 8th grade, but somehow when I saw him standing there with his oversized backpack slung low off one shoulder and his purposely (ridiculously) baggy Jnco Jeans, everything changed.  He was, like, totally cute.

After that first day, we would meet every morning outside Mr. Barner's English class where my first period class and his locker was.  He made me a mix tape that included not one, but TWO Coolio songs (ahem, "1,2,3,4" and "Gangsta's Paradise").  It was all very casual for the time being.  

But it all became official at the FestiFall that fateful September afternoon.  We walked (not quite) hand in hand, awkwardly flashing our metal-mouthed smiles at each other and making conversation about the pending release of what was supposed to a great movie about some big boat called the Titanic. (Oh, Leo… my other love.) And then he asked me to "go out with him" right there in front of the Rialto.  I said yes. 

And the rest, as they say, is history.  Four-ish years of dating at Westfield High School (Don't ask about junior year.  Let's just say it involved breaking up over a bowl of fruit salad at Vicki's Diner. We'll leave it at that.), four years of long distance dating while I was at Cornell and he was playing football at Valparaiso in Indiana, and a one year engagement led to the happiest day of my life when we made it official - yet again - at our wedding at Bonnet Island Estate right outside of Long Beach Island in front of our family and childhood friends, most of which also shared either our FestiFall date, Mr. Barner's English class, or played with Mike on the Blue Devil football team.

And although May 26 is our wedding anniversary, for me the FestiFall marks the most momentous date in our history as a couple and our life together, and the beginning of something much bigger, that led us back to Westfield to start our family and our business in the very place where it all began.  

September marks new beginnings for most people.  A new school year, a new season, a new schedule… and for Michael Robert Construction it also marks an important sort of landmark for our business.

The start of the school year is by far one of the most requested deadlines Mike gets from his clients (others being the arrival of new babies and Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner).  Many of our clients are young or growing families, some of them new to Westfield, and some of them moving to a new house right within town.  So many families buy homes with the intention to renovate and be settled back in before September 1.  Understandably so since no one wants to be dodging dust and debris, making school lunches in a makeshift kitchen, while attempting to memorize a new school/soccer/ballet schedule.  Clients are often surprised to hear that the process needs to start nearly a full year in advance to comfortably clear this deadline.

Naturally, the timeline can vary based on the size of the project, the need for variances, the availability of sub contractors and back ordered tile, appliances, cabinets… and of course barring the previously unheard of idea of snow in OCTOBER which really puts a kink in breaking ground, but you get the picture.  Planning and working backwards from an imminent deadline is an integral part of planning a successful and smooth renovation that finishes on time, and as we all know by now, a project's end can make or break a client's view of the process as a whole.

So let's work backwards… Mike is currently taking meetings with new clients for October and November, for work tentatively scheduled to begin in the Spring of 2014.  Which means homeowners with an average-sized project would finish up right around the end of the summer.  At the risk of sounding like a cheesy infomercial, "the time is now!"

Come see us at the Westfield FestiFall this Sunday, September 22nd (probably right around Panera on East Broad Street) to talk about your future remodeling plans, meet Mike and I, and see some sweet pictures of our projects.  And, if you're lucky and Mike's taking a break to get some funnel cake or something, more pics of Mike's awesome bowl cut that he sported 16 years ago.  I know I have some pictures or a yearbook around here somewhere…

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Ellie Mroz is the C.A.O. and Design Specialist for Michael Robert Construction, a Westfield-based Design/Build General Contractor. http://www.MichaelRobertConstruction.com

She can be reached at Ellie@MichaelRobertConstruction.com.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Michael Robert Construction, its affiliates, or its employees.