After Oxford High School shooting, Oxford and Lake Orion businesses team up to heal

OXFORD, Mich. (FOX 2) - The shooting at Oxford High School has had a ripple effect that can be felt in downtown Oxford and in nearby Lake Orion. The two towns are coming together to slowly get things back up and running again.

Some business owners have banded together to ask people to take a trip up to northern Oakland County to check out the shops and restaurants. And there's a trolley to help you get around.

Victoria Connolly has owned Victoria's Bistro Downtown for the past 25 years. While the area has been in mourning, they're also finding its way.

"We are a very small tight-knit community so when something great happens we celebrate together but when something terrible happens we mourn together," Connolly said. "Obviously I don’t know if we will ever been quite the same and we don’t want to minimize the event at all but there is still joy and laughter and celebration that goes on in life and we are trying to bring that back."

Small businesses in the two cities are taking part in a new movement called 'Stronger Together' to bring people back downtown. It was created by their Downtown Development Authority (DDA).

"We are such wonderful small towns. These are the kind of small towns that you either see on TV whether it’s Andy Griffith or Happy Days or something like that," Connolly said.

Kelly Westbrook is head of the DDA in Oxford and says this month, they’re hosting all kinds of events: Ice carving, fashion shows, a restaurant week, a shopping passport with prizes and a trolley to take you from Oxford to Lake Orion and back.

"This community is love they really do come together and they are so good and I think that’s what people feel when they visit here," Westbrook said.

For more information on the DDA in Oxford, head to their Facebook page.