(upbeat music) - [Jim] On this crunchy and creative episode of UTR, we're heading down river for local chips with family flavor, a soul food spot you'll want a savor, a festival where art meets heart, and a roller derby team that'll knock your socks off.

Don't blink, or you might miss the action.

(upbeat music) (gentle upbeat music) (group laughing) (crowd cheering) (wave splashing) - [Narrator] The Stahls Motors and Music Experience features a collection of automated music machines, neon signs, gas pumps, and 150 years of automotive history.

More info at stahlsauto.com.

- [Tom] We've been around the world- - [Jim] But there's one place we keep coming back to.

- [Tom] And the more we explore- - [Jim] The more we realize- - It's the place to be.

I'm Tom Daldin.

- I'm Jim Edelman.

- And this is "Under the Radar of Michigan."

- "Under the Radar of Michigan."

(upbeat rock music) (screen whooshes) Now, if you think of downriver as just a direction, think again.

It is a place packed with passion, personality, and people doing incredible things.

Whether you're a lifelong local or just passing through, Downriver sweeps you up in its one of a kind spirit.

It's a place where every corner buzzes with creativity, tradition, and a dash of surprise.

So grab a seat, bring your appetite, and get ready to dive right in.

Around here, you won't just find character, you'll find characters.

Just south of Detroit, the Downriver region hugs the banks of the lower Detroit River, and is made up of proud, tight-knit communities like River Rouge, Trenton, Taylor, Flat Rock and Brownstown.

(upbeat music) (screen whooshing) Our first stop is a snack with a story.

At the Downriver Chip Co., siblings Lito and Karina have turned their love of food and family into the area's freshest new crunch.

(Jim crunching) They started small but dreamed big.

Now their chips are on shelves at Meijer and in the mouths across Michigan.

I met up with the dynamic duo to find out how it all got cooking and where they're going.

How did this start?

I mean, you know, you've been a long time tortilla company.

- We have- - How did this launch?

- So, yeah, mom started it in 2005.

You know, grandma teaching her how to make tortillas in Mexico, and that launched her tortilla business in 2005.

He joined in '07.

- It was a small shop.

- Yep.

- Yep.

- A shop in Melvindale, and it was just purely tortillas.

My mom could get it to a certain point, and then I joined the family to see if we could do something bigger, make something out of it.

And we did, we outgrew that building within a year or two, we moved in here, and the room just gave us a lot more room to play and co-pack for others.

And so we started producing chips.

We got room for a fully automated line.

- [Jim] The bag is what grabbed me.

I was walking through Busch's and it stopped me- - Just popped, right?

- In my tracks.

It did.

And unlike anything else in that world, it was, you know, it's definitely a heritage brand.

- So, when we were producing for others and we knew our capacity, and we learned so much along the way with co-packing for others.

And we said, why can't we do that for ourselves?

Maybe we need to rebrand and do something that we're 100% Mexican, but born and raised here, so we wanted something to connect both cultures together.

A name that's easy to remember, easy to say, but the flavor and the art really represent our culture.

So we came with the sugar skull, and a lot of people think that it represents death, but really represents life and it's full of color.

And you remember your past, and that was so important because, you know, it all started with my mom and my grandma teaching her how to do things, and it grew into us wanting to be a part of that, and come up with a cool logo that represented that cool flavor and everything like that.

- And that's what's fun, you know, even for us on the show, you know, when we walk through the market and we see someone that we've had on the show in the past, I mean, it's a little reversed for how we saw it on the show and now we're here.

But, so brother and sister, I mean, you know, it could be a challenging relationship.

- Yeah, absolutely.

Well, we kind of grew up, like in '05, I mean, she was just a little girl, 14 years old, and mom would take us on the weekend to help her out at her shop.

And so we kind of grew up in the business at a young age, and now we try to be adults and- - Try.

- Be a little more civil.

- When you look at this line, it makes sense to someone who doesn't know.

You know, there's the cutter, there's the dryer.

It goes into the fryer, then they throw some spice on it, then it gets bagged.

It's super short.

- Seems easy, right?

- It does seem easy.

It's easy, right?

- Well, there was a lot of hand frying that led to this portion of the day.

- [Jim] Yeah, yeah.

- It took a lot of long years of trying to build the business, all hand frying.

And we got to a point where we just couldn't do it anymore, and we had no choice but to move this route.

- Well, you know, I look at the flavors you have, and they're very well thought out.

What's on the plan?

What flavor's next?

- Yeah.

- We got, we actually have a pita chip coming out.

We have five flavors, and those were also very carefully thought out.

And the reason for the pita chip is just with the tortilla chips, we're all about family getting together and, you know, sharing each other's time over food.

And whenever we're cooking or have a grill out, we got the chips and the salsa, and we also have the pita and the hummus.

Like those two things never fail, so we decided to launch our own pita with different flavors and that should be coming- - Put a little twist of the name to kind of add a little flavor of us, so we called it Senorita Pita.

- There you go.

- And so I think that's gonna be a catchy name and hopefully it moves.

- [Jim] So, where do you see this going?

How do you grow beyond Meijer, Busch's and Westborn?

- [Karina] Yeah, so we're doing all of our own deliveries.

We're DSC everywhere we go.

We're still the ones going knocking on doors, trying to present our product, you know, to the independent markets.

We're hoping for a distributor, you know, to really help launch us through the whole State of Michigan and even outside of that.

So I think we're ready for that next step- - [Lito] We're in that growing state right now, but we're ready for that step to take.

- [Jim] So what does it mean to represent Downriver on every bag?

- [Lito] Well, it's a big responsibility.

I mean, we're from Downriver, we always have been.

We always wanted to represent the area.

- [Karina] Yeah, and it's fun being part of the community, you know?

People like to pick and choose, "Oh, that's not part of Downriver.

Oh, that's too far north.

That's too far south," you know but- - People have their Downriver at what they would consider Downriver.

- Yeah.

- But we're considering anything in this whole area from Detroit down this way.

- And we're proud of it.

- Well, we're all about the local push as well, so I think we're all gonna get along really nicely.

- I think so.

- Nice job.

Nice job.

- Thank you.

- Good job, bro.

- Making chips.

- All right.

(laughs) - These chips burst with bold flavors and bring excitement to your snacking game.

Making Downriver Chip Co.

a standout pick when you want something crunchy, tasty and Michigan made.

(screen whooshing) Well, after we got our snack on, we're gonna head down to where inspiration meets the canvas and the wall.

Each year, Trenton transforms into the celebration where creativity, color, and community turn into the Trenton Art Festival.

Walking through the streets of vendors and festival activities, we found towering works of art being crafted right before our eyes.

Wanting to discover the source of these colossal works, I caught up with Michelle Tanguay, one of the creative forces behind the fest, and two of the muralists to learn why art has found such a perfect home here.

So just in the last five minutes that we've been standing here, this town loves you right now.

- It's not me.

It is not me.

- It's the event.

- It's the event, and I'm really just the conduit that everything travels through and to make it happen.

But it takes an entire village behind me.

The Trenton DDA, the city, everybody who works for the city, all of these business owners.

And I just feel really lucky and blessed to just be able to facilitate the artists and these incredible murals.

- Yeah, and I think, you know, when I look at this, and I know what goes into doing an event, it's still a lot of work that even, you know, unless you're there day in and day out.

But what do you think it means to a community like Trenton to have this level of world class muralists done?

- It means everything to them.

They're so thankful.

They love the artwork.

It brightens up the community.

The first year we came in and we painted and everyone, before we painted, everyone was a little unsure, and then it went up and they're like, "Oh my goodness, this is really amazing."

And now it's just the icing on the cake every year from that.

So, it's great.

- Well, and just talking to Naomi and to Jolene, the process that they go through to transfer from their brain to their sketch to the wall, that is a lot of work that goes in.

And then talking to 'em about the quality of the texture of the wall.

- Oh yeah.

- You know, Jolene had a very challenging- - Tough one.

- Set of geese there.

- [Michelle] Yep, and when I sent her a photo of the wall and I said, "Hey, I wanna pitch you for this job.

You do not want it though.

It's huge.

The texture's awful.

You don't want this."

And then she said, "Whatever I can do to get over there."

And I said, okay.

And she was the right person, 'cause look at it.

- Yeah.

- It's amazing.

- When I drive through, it just is, oh, over here is this one, and then, you know, you make that little head look, and you're like, and that's Mia and her grandson.

- Exactly.

- And those little stories are fantastic.

- And that's what it's all about, it's about the stories.

It's about the stories of the past, the present, and the future of what we want it to look like.

And the future is bright for Trenton.

(screen whooshing) - You have, you're like right at the middle of your big week of six weeks, six murals, right?

- Yes, I'm on a trip right now, a six week long trip where I'm doing six murals in three different cities, and we're on week five right now.

- When you build a project, is this a drawing you did and you've been kind of working on this for a little while?

- Yeah, well, I start out on my iPad with a picture of the wall, and then I start drawing on top of my iPad, trying to get a composition I want, and then I start dialing into the details a little more as I go.

- Yeah.

- But it goes through so many iterations, like so many different ideas before I start zeroing in on what I really want.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean that, and you've said the faces are harder on children, because they don't have as much- - Yeah, children's faces are harder than adult faces for some reason.

It just seems to be harder to get everything right and have it look right and everything, so, yeah.

- Well, and when I walked up on this one, I felt like, you know, like it was totally looking at me.

I mean, there's so much expression in those eyes.

I love that.

So, it is fantastic.

And I love it when the little kids walk up to it.

- I do too.

I love seeing little kids' reactions.

I like seeing them look at it in awe and it just makes me happy.

- [Jim] Yeah, yeah.

- [Naomi] And seeing all the little kids do the dance in front of it, that really brought me so much joy.

(laughs) - Yeah, that's a heck of a backdrop, right?

- Yes, exactly.

- Yeah.

(screen whooshing) So Jolene, I'm looking at this mural and I almost see those tips of those geese wings moving.

- Oh.

- I mean, there's life in them, so congratulations on that.

And you hail from- - Belgium.

- Belgium, right.

And how many murals do you do a year?

- Oh, that's a really good question.

I think in the high season, that's like three a month.

So, you do the math.

(laughs) - So you started buying bigger and bigger canvases, and then you realized you needed a bigger canvas, right?

- I kind of immediately rolled into murals.

- [Jim] Did you?

- I had an internship at a mural festival in Belgium, and one day they were like, "We need an assistant for one of the artists."

And I had some previous talent with painting, but never really did anything with it, and then doing that, it kind of sparked something, and I was like, this is what I wanna do.

- The bug bit.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, thank you for coming.

- Yeah, thanks for taking your time to interview me.

- Yeah.

The Trenton Art Festival features live murals, handmade goods, food trucks, and music stages making the event itself a work of art.

(screen whooshing) You know, of course, all that walking made me hungry.

It's a good thing we have a soul satisfying restaurant here in Flat Rock that brings together heritage and heart in one restaurant.

I met up with owners Blonnie and Miller Taylor, whose passion for family recipes and community nourishment comes through in every bite.

Also joining us was Bill Miller, who rebuilt the former waterworks building into a beautiful restaurant.

So Miller and Blonnie, you guys run the restaurant.

- Correct.

- Bill, you own the building and it's a match made in heaven.

- Yes.

- Right, so.

- It definitely is.

- What I love about this, this was the waterworks, right?

The water plant.

- [Bill] Designed by Albert Kahn.

- Yeah, I mean, how many buildings you get to work on that are designed by an architect of that quality, and that nature, and what he's built in this town, it's nuts, yeah.

So let's talk food.

- Let's talk food.

- Talk food.

I mean, you're cooking my comfort food.

I mean, you know, food that can put on a couple pounds in one meal, I love it.

- For sure.

- I love it.

So tell me about the dishes.

Tell me about like, you know, the stuff you like cooking.

- Well, I love cooking.

I started out with ribs, you know, I love cooking ribs, and I barbecued 'em at first with the barbecue grill.

And I got about, man, I got about seven grills at home.

(laughs) - [Blonnie] And that's probably an understatement.

He probably has about 9 or 10.

- Yep, and then I graduated to smoking ribs and I fell in love with the flavor, you know, and the time, you know, I was able to set it and kind of go do some things and come back and it was perfect.

And then I added things on as I went along.

The brisket, I smoked the brisket.

I love the brisket.

I can smoke that all night and get some sleep while I'm cooking, which is awesome.

Let's see, what else am I smoking?

The smoked chicken wings.

Yeah, we smoke those and, you know, we just got a lot of things to offer for the Flat Rock community and others around.

- It's an obsession.

Smoking's an obsession because it's not just throw it in the fryer and wait for it to come out six minutes later.

It is, you're right, it's like you can go to bed with a brisket and wake up three or four times to feed the fire.

I think, you know, when I look at a restaurant like this, it's not just, you know, the passion of one, it's the passion of many.

I mean, you've all brought something to this table, and I think that's pretty spectacular.

I mean, you know, Bill, when you saw this building at first, you probably saw a big project in front of you.

- [Bill] Oh my gosh, yes.

It was dilapidated.

Hadn't been, furnace hadn't been turned on in 13 years, so, yeah, a lot of damage.

Yeah, we did almost a year of demo before we started putting stuff back together, yeah.

- What are some of the challenges that you guys saw when you first came in?

- Probably name recognition, just offering what some would consider a foreign food group.

Some of the southerners that come in here, they're like, "Oh, yeah."

But others, we found a lot of folks didn't know what collard greens were.

- Oh, I love greens.

- Yes.

- Turn up whatever, I love 'em all.

- So, I do too.

I love 'em all too.

So probably that was the biggest challenge because some folks are, you know, they know what they like, you know, and they kinda stay there.

But for those who were willing to, you know, give it a shot, come out.

You know, we sent out free samples to tables so that you never heard of collard greens.

Here, let me let you taste them.

They're delicious.

- Let me convert you with this one bite.

(laughs) - [Blonnie] Absolutely.

- [Bill] But they have been very well received here in Flat Rock.

- Absolutely.

- The mayor, he's here- - Once a week.

- Once a week, yes.

Every week.

Every week, the mayor is here.

- [Bill] Man, they're very well received and very respected here.

- [Blonnie] Absolutely.

- What would you say is the dish you enjoy cooking the most?

- Oh, man, the dish I enjoy, actually, it's the brisket.

- Yeah.

- Because it takes so much time and love, you know, the injection that I gotta inject it with, and then to create the bark and to make sure the bark comes out barky.

(laughs) - Barky.

- You know?

- Yeah, that little crispy chunk to it.

- Yeah, and like you said, the jiggle.

If it doesn't have the jiggle, gotta toss it.

- He does so many things though.

Even when he slices it, he makes sure it's the perfect slice, and he puts it on his finger and he makes sure it bounces, and he does, like, he makes sure it's perfect.

Like when he says it has to be, when Bill says it has to be perfect, and he says it has to be pretty, it's not an understatement for you.

- Gotta be pretty perfect.

- There you go.

Now, the thing about this is you have not been smelling this food at home for the last 30 minutes.

I have been smelling smoke, and I know that I'm smelling some meat.

I'm smelling some vegetables in there.

I am, I am hungry.

(laughs) - Oh yeah.

The smoke coming out of that, you could like, you could bottle it, sell it.

- Yeah, so I know what my wife's saying when I come to bed and I smell like smoke and she is like, you know, "Did you not bring meat with you?"

Like, I didn't bring meat with you, I'm sorry.

Yeah, but let's get the food.

- Yeah.

Let's do it.

- From cornbread to catfish and collards, this is the food that hugs you from the inside and leaves you grinning with every bite.

(upbeat music) (screen whooshing) It's time to lace up for a whirlwind of wheels, whistles and wicked awesome women.

At Dixie Skateland in Newport, the Downriver Roller Dolls are redefining strength, strategy and sisterhood one lap at a time.

I had a chance to talk roller derby with some of the skaters and learned what makes roller derby such a wild and welcoming ride.

So Jessa, you gotta explain this game to me.

I am confused, frightened, and also willing to learn, so.

- Yeah, I mean, I feel like that's how everyone feels when they're watching roller derbies, playing roller derby, so nothing new there.

So how it works is there's two teams playing against each other, obviously.

So you have five blockers, or four blockers, one jammer on each team, so five playing at one time from each team.

The blockers are trying to stop the opposing jammer from getting in front of them through the pack, while also trying to get your jammer through the pack of everybody.

- Gotcha.

- So there's a little defense and offense at the same time.

- So do you score a point when you lap, or just when you pass the jammers and blockers?

- So you score a point by passing opposing blocker, so every opposing blocker that you pass is a point.

- [Jim] I gotcha, okay.

So you don't have to lap anyone, you just have to get past everyone.

- [Jessa] So your first initial kind of get through as a jammer, you don't get any points.

That's just getting what we call a lead jammer.

If you're a lead jammer, you can call off the jam before the two minutes is over, which is how long a jam is.

And then your second time round, if you get through those blockers, you get a point for each blocker that you get passed.

- Gotcha.

What does this sport mean to you?

- It means a lot to me.

So before I started, I was a pretty like introverted, shy person, and I was kind of looking for a community of people that were similar to me, had similar interests, and I found roller derby at a street fair.

I ice skated for like my whole life, so I thought I could probably do it.

Turns out I was right.

It's been a great community to be a part of.

Everyone is very accepting.

We're all very different.

The, you know, age ranges are 18 to, I don't know, late fifties I think at this point.

So it's just been good to get to know everybody.

The community is just great.

That's really what keeps me in it and that's why I started, so.

- There's gotta be men's teams, right?

- Yep, there sure are.

- Those guys are much bigger than me.

- We actually do play against them sometimes.

- Oh, you do?

- Yes, we do.

- Okay, so co-ed.

- Yeah, there are co-ed teams.

Pretty much anyone can play roller derby, yeah.

- Yeah, interesting.

(screen whooshing) In my never ending quest to learn more about roller derby- - Yes.

- Tell me why it is you do this.

- You know, I decided way back when, when we started in 2011, I saw a sign and it said, you know, "Play roller derby."

I'm like, I could do that.

And it took a while, but you know, I joined right away, and it took a while to get like really into the swing of things.

But, you know, you can't beat the friendships, you can't beat the sportsmanship, you just can't beat it.

It's the best thing ever.

- Has it always been this one team, or have you had multiple teams over the years?

- It's always been the Downriver Roller Dolls.

When we first started it was Downriver Roller Dollz with a Z and we took out the Z and made it an S. So I mean, that's kind of funny because we went from the old to the new, and the Z was old and the S was new.

So that was kind of fun.

(screen whooshing) - As I'm learning more about this game, I'm learning its personality, as well as it's your abilities, right.

So first off, what is your derby name?

- My name is Krista.

My derby name is Seam Ripper.

I'm in the market for a new name though.

- Oh, Seam Ripper.

So is that an anger filled seam ripping or- - I like to sew, I like to make dresses, yeah.

- So you're always, always, you know, resetting your seams, okay.

What brought you to this?

- I joined at a difficult moment in my life, and I was really looking for a community of strong women to surround myself with, and to draw on some of that strength, and this group is just fantastic.

- Like when you play, how does your personality change?

- For me, I think when we're actually playing a game, I can tune out more of like what's going on and like with myself, and rely more on my team, and listen more, and work together more.

And I think when you're also playing the game, you know, you're able to take more hits than you think you can and get back up and go.

- Well, excellent.

Well, I can't wait to see you out there playing.

So let's rip some seams.

- Right.

(laughs) - Fierce, fast and full of heart, the Downriver Roller Dolls are rolling proof that Downriver knows how to throw down and lift up at the same time.

From handcrafted chips and community art, to soulful cooking and full contact comradery, Downriver showed us that pride, creativity, and connection are alive and well just a little south of the Motor City.

So if you haven't been Downriver in a while, maybe it's time to follow your taste buds, your curiosity or your roller skates and head on down.

We'll see you on the next "Under the Radar."

Each year, Trenton.

I was close.

Soul is one restaurant that's serving heritage and hype.

(laughs) Trenton transforms.

Color, creativity, and community.

It's time to lace up for a whirl, a whirl.

(laughs) For a whirlwind of wheels, whoo.

(laughs) Whistles.

(gentle upbeat music) (group laughing) (crowd cheering) (wave splashing) - [Narrator] The Stahls Motors and Music Experience features a collection of automated music machines, neon signs, gas pumps, and 150 years of automotive history.

More info at stahlsauto.com.

(upbeat rock music) (gentle upbeat music)