Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor is the University of Michigan's hometown and one of the most livable cities in the Midwest — walkable, independently-minded, and with a food scene that punches well above a 120,000-person city's weight. The Ann Arbor Art Fair in late July is one of the largest juried outdoor art fairs in the country, taking over 30 blocks of downtown across four simultaneous fairs. The Farmers Market at Kerrytown runs year-round and anchors a neighborhood of specialty food shops, boutiques, and the Zingerman's Community of Businesses — a deli institution, candy shop, coffee roastery, and bakehouse with cooking classes all within a few blocks of each other. North Star Lounge books jazz, funk, blues, and indie acts in an intimate room that the city's music culture depends on.