Clarkston is billed as the most ethnically diverse square mile in America being a small town where numerous refugees from around the globe have made their home over the past thirty years. Originally a sleepy southern railroad town, it now hosts numerous shops and restaurants of Nepali, Bosnian, Somali, and Burmese origin to name a few.


Having arrived as a refugee, a good friend of mine went on to pursue the American dream by opening his first shop in Clarkston, one of many ethnic stores and restaurants in the city, in this case full of Burmese food and clothing.

At play on the equipment of Milam Park
Refuge Coffee has become a central part of Clarkston, a coffee truck station that both serves as a gathering place and a place of employment training.


Clarkston’s International Festival has become an annual tradition to showcase its diversity of cultures like some Nepali youth from Bhutan performing a traditional dance

Visit Clarkston`s community gardens and you will find food plants you`ve never heard of growing in abundance.
