Cereal City Sweetness

One of the great things about living in Battle Creek, Michigan is you get to experience the Cereal City Sweetness.

What is the Cereal City Sweetness? Well, since we are home to three of the largest cereal manufacturing companies in the world: Kellogg's, Post and Ralston, we get to smell it in the air!

That is right, some cities can only boast that they smell slaughterhouses, smog and burning, but we can smell cereal being made. Until you live here, it is hard to explain.

My first experience was in 2001, when I was searching for a place to live here in town. I was with some friends, and we suddenly were overwhelmed with the smell in the air of cinnamon! It was unexplainable at first, and then we connected the dots and realized we smelled a breeze from one of the factories. Cereal City Sweetness!

Since then, I have come accustomed to smelling cereal in the air at various times of the day. It is most strong at night, when the air is clear and there is a slight breeze. You also develop the skills of determining what flavor of Cereal City Sweetness you smell, and even which brand they are making right then.

Some of the distinct and various smells you can distinguish are: Chocolate (Easy), Malt (a little tougher), cinnamon (once again, easy), fruity pebbles (Very noticeable) and Corn Flakes (A little tougher). Some of the tougher ones to detect are: Rice Krispies, Chex and Bran flakes.

After you have been here awhile, you understand life in Battle Creek and the Cereal City Sweetness. There is nothing like being in the middle of winter, and shoveling your driveway when it is so very cold, and then catching a whiff of Cocoa Pebbles in the air, and everything seems alright. Or taking a stroll in the summertime and catching a cross wind of fruity pebbles and corn flakes.

As a Realtor in Battle Creek, when driving around and showing houses, it is inevitable that you come across the Cereal City Sweetness in the wind. Clients from out of town will suddenly stop as we are walking up to a house, after the wind shifted. They will pause for a moment, as if searching for a memory, until recognition hits them. I often do not have to tell them what it is. It is like a distant call from their childhood, a whisp of a good memory of the breakfast table, cereal and the toy surprises found inside the bright colored boxes. That is Cereal City Sweetness.

Every June we celebrate Cereal Fest, and people come from miles around to celebrate Cereal City Sweetness! You can smell it in the air, and taste it in the milk at breakfast time!

Nothing compares to Cereal City Sweetness. Nothing.