Hamtramck parties down in celebration of summer

By Charles Sercombe

Hamtramck was one rocking town this past weekend.

The annual Labor Day Festival featured a non-stop line-up of the very best Detroit area rock bands and a full day of polkas on Sunday.

Despite the stellar music offering, attendance was thought to be down this year, perhaps because of the hot weather or the many other festivals and special events competing over the weekend.

This was the 28th year for the festival, which started in 1980 as a way to lift the spirits of the town. Back then, Chrysler had just announced that the city’s number one taxpayer, Dodge Main, would be shut down and demolished.

Some history was made this year with the first-ever wedding ceremony held on the Caniff stage on Sunday (see story below).

As usual, the highlight of the weekend was the Polish Day Parade on Monday. This year’s theme honored Polish-American sports heroes.

According to police, there were few disturbances over the weekend. Most of the problems that did occur happened at the closing of the festival when some festivalgoers simply didn’t want to leave.