For eight weeks every year, the Village of Franklin operates on a different clock than the rest of Oakland County. It starts the Saturday morning the Cider Mill opens and ends the first weekend after Thanksgiving, and nearly every weekend inside that window has a reason to walk downtown rather than drive out of it.
The 2026 version of that stretch is the first one residents will experience with a fully changed corner on Franklin Road. The building that housed The Franklin Grill for sixteen years reopened this June under new ownership, so this fall is the first Cider Mill season where the walk from the press to a sit-down dinner is a genuinely different walk.
September 5, 8 a.m.
The Franklin Cider Mill at 7450 Franklin Road is opening for the 2026 fall season on Saturday, September 5 at 8 a.m. That is the anchor date the rest of the season hangs on. The mill's cider season opens Labor Day weekend and remains open until the first weekend after Thanksgiving, and the donuts are made from an old German spice recipe.
Two details worth internalizing before the first weekend. First, the mill presses cider daily, and on weekends there are multiple presses each day, so a Sunday afternoon visit isn't just a donut run, it's the only chance most weeks to watch a bushel actually go through the machinery. Second, the cider is unfiltered, unpasteurized, contains no preservatives, and must be kept refrigerated, which is why the gallon on the counter behaves differently than the shelf-stable version from the grocery store. Buy for the week you plan to drink it.
The Peltz family has run the mill since the 1960s. Jacob Peltz operated the mill for nearly 35 years until his death in 2004, and it was then operated by his son Berry before passing to his granddaughter, Melanee Peltz Radner, who serves as the current owner and operator. Three generations is not marketing copy, it is the reason the recipe hasn't drifted.
The New Tenant Across The Street
The other change on Franklin Road is directly opposite the mill. The Franklin Oyster Bar & Eatery is housed in a historic 1848 carriage house at 32760 Franklin Road, a white clapboard structure that previously was home to the beloved Franklin Grill for 16 years until its closure in 2024. Jay Farner, the former CEO of Rocket Mortgage and now managing partner of Ronin Capital Partners, purchased the Franklin Grill property in 2024 and spearheaded its transformation into The Franklin Oyster Bar & Eatery.
The renovation kept the shell and rebuilt the program. The redesign preserved the colonial-style shutters and gas lanterns on the exterior and restored original architectural details inside, with the team working closely with Franklin's Historic District Commission to maintain the village's historic charm while introducing fresh features. Lead designer Nicole McGrail based much of the aesthetic on Charleston's dining scene, where historic homes are often turned into eateries, aiming for something that feels like Franklin Village's own coastal getaway spot without losing its Michigan identity.
For residents, the practical shift is what's out back. Behind the restaurant the team constructed a patio with a fireplace for alfresco dining and an all-seasons pavilion that can be enclosed and heated in cooler months, doubling as an event space with capacity for up to 100 people outside. An enclosed, heatable pavilion is the piece the old Grill never had. It means a mid-October dinner across from the mill is a plan rather than a weather gamble.
The Weekends Between Labor Day And Halloween
The Cider Mill anchors the season, but the eight weeks fill in around it. A short list of what is already on the village calendar:
- August 5, 6–8 p.m. — Music on the Green, the summer series' final stretch before Labor Day.
- August 14, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. — a walking session out of the Franklin Public Library, learning walking techniques while covering Franklin's streets. Free, low-key, and the fastest way to reintroduce yourself to the village on foot before the Cider Mill crowds arrive.
- Labor Day weekend, September 5 forward — Cider Mill open daily, 8 a.m. onward.
- Weekends through October — the Franklin Farmer's Market on the Green at 32325 Franklin Road, running its fall stretch on the Village Green.
- Saturday, October 24 — the Historic Main Street Franklin's annual Franklinstein Frenzy Halloween Spectacular in the Village of Franklin.
- First weekend after Thanksgiving — Cider Mill closes for the year.
The pattern is worth naming. The village doesn't program against itself. The library walk, the market, and Music on the Green all sit outside the Cider Mill's peak hours, and the big event on the calendar, Franklinstein Frenzy, is deliberately built to pull cider-mill traffic across the street and into the business district. That is not accidental. It is a small downtown coordinating a season.
Franklinstein Frenzy, Hour By Hour
Franklinstein Frenzy is the one Saturday where the whole village functions as a single event, and it is worth mapping the day because the pieces are spread across four locations. Based on the format the Main Street Franklin organization has run in recent years:
- 11 a.m.–4 p.m. — Spooktacular Merchant Savings kicks off the day, with special discounts available at participating businesses throughout the village.
- 11:45 a.m. — Costume Parade lineup in the Comerica Bank parking lot, with the parade beginning at 12 p.m. sharp and running until 12:20 p.m.
- Immediately after the parade — trick-or-treating follows through the Business District and continues to the Franklin Library, where kids collect from local merchants along the way.
- 12:30–12:45 p.m. — Hallo-Paws Pet Costume Contest at Pet Paw Boutique.
- Early afternoon at the library — Franklin Cider Mill donuts and cider at the Franklin Library, sponsored by the mill, with arts and crafts activities running alongside.
- 12:45 p.m. registration, 1:15 p.m. start — the Pumpkin Roll at the Kreger House.
The reason to run the sequence is logistics. Costumed kids, a bank parking lot lineup, and a pumpkin roll that requires registration do not tolerate a "we'll figure it out when we get there" approach. Residents who have done it before know that arriving at 11:30 with a costume on and coffee in hand is a very different day than arriving at 12:15 and trying to catch the parade tail.
Where To Put Guests
If you have family visiting during the Cider Mill window, the shortest Franklin day looks like this. Coffee and a walk on the Village Green in the morning. Cider and donuts at the mill mid-morning before the line stretches to the lower parking lot. A slow lap through the business district on Franklin Road. Lunch or an early dinner at the Oyster Bar's pavilion if the weather cooperates, indoors if it doesn't. The whole loop is measured in blocks, not miles, and it is the reason people who have lived here a long time host in October rather than August.
For anyone thinking about the village from the outside, that walkable eight-week rhythm is most of the answer to why homes here don't turn over often. Nextdoor neighbors describe the top reasons they love the Village of Franklin as its beauty, charm, community, dog-friendliness, historic character, peaceful and quiet feel, trees, and walking. Fall is when all of that becomes literal.
The Last Weekend
Mark the far end of the window too. The mill closes the first weekend after Thanksgiving, and it closes for real, not for a few days. If you have a Thanksgiving tradition that involves a gallon of Franklin cider on the table, the last press day is the one to plan around, not the Wednesday scramble. The Franklin Tent stocks Michigan homemade jams, maple syrup, honey, salsas, meats, and cheeses, and the Apple Shack sells seasonal apples by the half peck and the bushel, so the last-weekend visit is also the one worth budgeting an extra half hour for.
The village empties out after that. December in Franklin is quiet in a way September through November is not, and it is a fair trade for the eight weeks that came before.
If you are considering a move into the Village of Franklin, or you already own here and are thinking about what a sale might look like when the season turns, Meredith Colburn can walk you through what buyers are actually looking at in this market right now. The team works out of 442 S Old Woodward in Birmingham and has represented Franklin sellers and buyers for three decades. Reach out for a private conversation or a complimentary home valuation.
