Festivals and Events
Detroit has three major events that are associated with the automobile industry: the North American International Auto Show (January), Society of Automotive Engineers world congress (April) and the Woodward Dream Cruise (August). Annual music events in the city include the DEMF/Movement/Fuse-In electronic music festival (May), Concert of Colors (July), Ford Detroit International Jazz Festival (September), Dally in the Alley (September) and Arts, Beats and Eats (September). Annual art events include the Dirty Show International Erotic Exhibition (February), People's Art Festival (August), and Noel Night (December).
The Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival features a fireworks display over the Detroit International Riverfront and coincides with U.S. Independence day (July 4) and Canada Day (July 1). The Detroit Windsor International Film Festival is a major film festival also shared with the city of Windsor. The New Center summer events and Detroit Thunderfest hydroplane races which take place in July. Detroit Fashion Week happens in August. The America's Thanksgiving Parade, originally the Hudson's Thanksgiving Day Parade, is one of the nation's largest and has been held continuously since 1924.
The day before Ash Wednesday, or the festival of Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday, is more frequently celebrated locally as "Paczki Day" by the large Polish population. Many Metro Detroiters join in the festivity by indulging in jelly-filled donuts called paczkis.
Founded in 1907 by two Russian immigrant brothers in Detroit, Faygo pop remains a Detroit tradition. Detroit was also the birthplace of Vernors ginger ale, the longest-surviving soft drink in the United States, Better Made potato chips and the Coney Island restaurant.
The Bayview Yacht Club sponsors the annual Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race as well as a number of other regional and local regattas.
Recently added events include the Motown Winter Blast in February and the Detroit River Days in June .
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Detroit
Famous quotes containing the words festivals and/or events:
“This is certainly not the place for a discourse about what festivals are for. Discussions on this theme were plentiful during that phase of preparation and on the whole were fruitless. My experience is that discussion is fruitless. What sets forth and demonstrates is the sight of events in action, is living through these events and understanding them.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“Nothing that grieves us can be called little: by the eternal laws of proportion a child’s loss of a doll and a king’s loss of a crown are events of the same size.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)