Insider Guide: Hailie Patterson

Hailie Patterson graduated from Davenport University with a degree in business. She is currently an assistant manager at Portland Federal Credit Union in Ionia where she grew up. She is very passionate about her community because that was how she was raised. “My mother has always been really involved in the community,” she explains. “That’s where my passion comes from.”
 
Hailie is the community vice president of the Ionia Jaycees, an ambassador for the Ionia Area Chamber of Commerce, and also in a Business Professional Women’s Group.
 
For dining out, Hailie says Olivera’s Pizzeria is her favorite place to go for good food and delicious drinks. Gregory’s Tavern is a fun, casual place to hang out and shoot pool (they don’t serve food but you can munch on some popcorn). Skoogy’s Sports Pub & Lounge at Ionia Bowl 300 a bar and restaurant inside a popular bowling alley with that’s “really nice inside.” And for strictly drinking, the Main Street Bar is the classic “hole in the wall” joint that has DJs on weekends and gets pretty lively.
 
Downtown Ionia is full of historic architecture, including a two-screen historic theatre called the Ionia Theatre that is cheaper than the big box movie theatre chain and something of an Ionia landmark. “We really do have a beautiful downtown main street,” Hailie notes. It also has plentiful shopping, including several antique and vintage stores as well as Hailie’s husband’s furniture and reupholstery shop Main Street Interiors and a unique home décor shop called Keeper of the Crows.
 
Summertime is especially vibrant in Ionia. The Bertha Brock Park provides a great resource for camping and other outdoor recreation, including nice trails for hiking and biking. There is also a great river trail that follows along Grand River.
 
One of the largest annual events in Ionia is the Ionia Free Fair in the summer. There’s a tiki bar that runs the whole week, [other shit]. “It’s usually the talk of the town when the fair is [going on]!”