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Tulip City Dispatch's 2024 Year In Review!

 The good:

  1. My top post (by page views) in 2024 was the review comparing Chocolate Payday to Baby Ruth.  Odd because I honestly forgot about writing that one.  And, I spent a LOT of time promoting other posts on various Discord servers and on BluSky.
  2. Speaking of BluSky, I've gotten consistently more hits from links on that site than I ever did from Instagram or from Twitter.  Give me a follow if you haven't already!  https://bsky.app/profile/tulipcitydispatch.bsky.social
  3. Got to meet a few Instagram followers in real life, which was kinda cool
  4. I've been hitting up bookstores a little more, and have acquired a few local history books that I hope to dive into
  5. Doeb's Pizza has really come into their own this year.  I always knew they had a lot of good potential, and they're absolutely hitting it on all cylinders
  6. I've recently discovered the deli/sandwich shop inside Ryke's Bakery and it's amazing.  There's high competition with Electric Hero for "Best Sandwich Shop Within Sight Of A Quality Carwash," and ironically, it's the same carwash.


The bad:

  1. I really need to revisit a few of my food articles - half of the pizza and burgers I rated don't exist anymore.  Goog's closed down during CoVid, then reopened a year later.  New Holland Brewing has redone their menu several times over since CoVid, and I cannot vouch for their burgers anymore.  Regarding pizza, one of the honorable mentions (CitySen) doesn't exist anymore, and I'd love to get something up regarding Doeb's Pizza.
  2. Speaking of pizza, Jet's has gone WAY downhill over the past 3-4 years.  Prices have gone up, they've changed cheese and sauce, and they stopped delivering to my house :(
  3. Speaking of prices, McAllister's Deli is quite pricey for what it is.
  4. Speaking of semi-gourmet sandwich shops, I miss Firehouse Subs :(

The ugly:

  1. Got my first hate email!  An account linked to a Boomer-adjacent TikTok account sent an email to me full of vulgarities and obscenities.
  2. Craft beer is in free fall - we've lost Hopland/Tulip City Brewstillery, Guardian, and Waypost locally, and dozens more breweries in the state of Michigan.  Production numbers have cratered.  What was once a glorious beacon of craft beer in West Michigan has now dulled to a dim flicker.
  3. This fuckin' guy.  Again.

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