Hamtramck Labor Day Festival

When the Dodge Main plant closed in 1980 after seven decades of defining this Polish enclave, the mayor and a group of residents answered with a festival - not to forget the crisis but to prove, as the city tells it, that Hamtramck was a tough town that could smile in the face of one. A hundred thousand people came that first chilly weekend. Forty-six years on, Joseph Campau still fills with two stages, carnival rides, the Polish Day Parade, and the beloved Yacht Club Canoe Races, where tavern-sponsored teams push canoe-shaped carts down the street while the crowd pelts them with water balloons.

Dates

Labor Day weekend

Town

Hamtramck, Michigan

Venue

Joseph Campau Ave, Hamtramck, MI

Price

Free

Type

Community