Insider Guide: Lindey Miller

Lindey Miller grew up near Holland in Zeeland, Michigan. She attended Grand Valley State University where she got a degree in advertising and public relations. During her last year in school, she started working at New Holland Brewing Company as a bartender. “It was one of my favorite places to hang out and I really liked the atmosphere,” she says. “I heard if you worked here you got $1 beer so I figured [I couldn’t] go wrong!”

That was six years ago. Lindey is now the Art & Communications Assistant—or the “Princess of Publicity,” her “fun title” (everyone at New Holland has one) as it states on her business card. Until recently Lindey was a one-(wo)man advertising team. “I really created the position myself,” she states; sort of a right-place, right-time scenario. She handles all of the social media, which includes three separate Facebook pages for New Holland’s three different brands (the brewery, the restaurant and pub, and the distillery). She also handles all of their e-newsletters, updating daily content and back-end management of the website, incoming and outgoing artwork requests and advertising.
 
After six years, Lindey is of course a little partial to New Holland as one of the hottest spots in Holland—but her partiality is well-deserved, because it is. “It’s a fun spot with a great atmosphere,” she says. “We’re always doing something fun like ugly sweater parties, or ‘Blue Sunday’ with live blues music all day on [the] Sunday [when we release] our Blue Sunday Sour beer.” Plus there’s live entertainment every Friday and Saturday, which she also books. It’s a huge draw for the early-twenties college and young professional crowd. “Having [Grand Valley State] here is a big draw with the college students; the whole campus is [basically] downtown.”

For recreation, Lindey loves the beach scene. “I love this area because of the lake,” she states. “I’m a total beach bum; I love camping and hiking.” There are a ton of outdoor leisure activities available in the area, and young people are definitely migrating here. “It’s a very up-and-coming town,” Lindey says. “There’s a lot of young professionals in the area, and groups [for them to connect] like Holland Young Professionals and Grand Rapids Young Professionals.”

Aside from New Holland, Lindey also recommends Butch’s Dry Dock. “It’s more fine dining, but with a great beer and wine selection in-house and to-go, and they offer mixed six packs with a lot of fun, weird beers.” Curragh Irish Pub is another popular party place (especially on St. Patrick’s Day). Lindey also recommends the Park Theater. “It’s kind of a hidden goldmine,” she says. “They have a killer stage and get some really sweet bands.” And while the locals can’t seem to agree on how to pronounce their funky community-conscious coffee shop Lemonjello's (alternatively referred to as “lamonjalow's;” the owner remains mum on what it is supposed to be), they serve all organic fair trade coffee and feature live music from some of the best artists in the area.

The popular resort town of Saugatuck is only a 10-12 minute drive south from Holland, and to anyone visiting Holland Lindey recommends a stay at the locally-owned CityFlats Hotel, an eco-conscious urban-chic boutique hotel (which also recently opened a second location in Grand Rapids).

Millions of people flock to Holland every May for the annual Tulip Time Festival, the largest tulip festival in the United States celebrated with a parade, a carnival, fireworks and lots and lots of colorful tulips (a long-lasting remnant of Holland’s early Dutch settlement heritage).

The Principal Shopping District in downtown Holland is full of cute boutiques. Lindey’s “all-time favorite” is Carla’s Place, filled with handmade goods. She also likes Found, a refurbished furniture and vintage clothing store. jb and me is a very high-end clothing store that carries haute labels like True Religion, where the Bridge trades in all fair-trade goods. Tikal is also similar to Bridge, though it is not all certified fair trade, but is “very cute and very bohemian.” Downtown Holland also regularly puts on fun events, like home tours during Christmas, a salsa (the food, not the dance) showdown between local restaurant, themed live mannequin displays, and a farmers’ market in the summer. “There’s always a lot of events going on,” Lindey says. “[They’re] really good at getting the community together.”