Hamtramck gives a long goodbye to summer in yearly bash

By Charles Sercombe
Neither a tornado on Thursday nor what looked like an all-day rain on Friday could delay this year’s Hamtramck Labor Day Festival.
Hamtramck’s annual end-of-the-summer blast was spared from Mother Nature’s own blowout.
Barely.
The weekend actually turned out to feature picture-perfect weather, with plenty of sun (but not too hot).Not to mention: non-stop live bands, tasty food, great people-watching, and plenty of cold suds.
The highlight of the weekend was – as it always is – the canoe race, held on Monday at high noon on Jos. Campau.
By now, the concept of a canoe race on pavement is pretty much known to all, but in case you’re a newbie, it involves any contraption, often made fanciful in an Austin-Texas-type weird creative way, that’s on wheels and being pushed by real live human beings.
No robots here, thank you. At least, not yet.
And, of course, there is an army of seemingly otherwise-sane people armed with loads of water balloons and soaker guns, ready to commit H2O atrocities.
In other words, if you came to observe, you agreed to get wet – whether you wanted to or not.
Amazingly, it never appears that anyone gets seriously injured slip-sliding their way down wet pavement. But, guaranteed, you end up picking out pieces of balloon fragments from your clothing and hair the rest of the day.
How do pieces of balloons end up in the cuff of one’s pants?
Afterward, because Hamtramckans are polite, the balloon debris is picked up by the crowd. One out-of-town observer noted about the carnage cleanup: “What a great example to set for the kids” – and they meant it.
Former city councilmember Joe Strzalka put it this way, on Facebook:
“As they say in Guatemala: ‘Una vez el año, no le hace daño.’ Once a year does no harm.”
After that water balloon fight, it was time to get a good perch for the Hamtramck Labor Day Parade that also travels down Jos. Campau – a hometown specialty that should make any Hamtramckan proud of their city.
The parade used to be a magnet for local, county, state and national politicians. That tradition has largely disappeared, but Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate vying to be a U.S. Senator from Michigan, did join in.
El-Sayed was accompanied by a phalanx of supporters carrying a campaign banner, while he passed out candy to the spectators.
Our only complaint about the parade is: More, please.
There is so much yet to say about the festival. It really is more than any one person can take in or experience. So many strange moments and people and things you see that — by law? — can’t be replicated outside Hamtramck’s special one-time-a-year bubble.
But let’s re-live a few random moments and comments.
Old friend Tim Caldwell reported that someone at the festival was walking around with a rescue cat imported from Ukraine — as if there is somehow a shortage of strays here in the U.S.?
Although heaven knows, many of those people and pets have been through countless horrors over there for the past four years and dragging on.
OK, maybe that’s not that weird, but in its own way, it is so very Hamtramck.
Or, how about the competing religious stands, or the kid walking the festival grounds with a sign promoting free mosque tours?
Seeing former mayor Karen Majewski dancing on stage with the Polish Muslims is always another special Hamtramck moment.
And, speaking of Majewski, one vendor had an old campaign sign of hers displayed — which made us wonder whether this was the secret meeting place for that “Deep State” that former mayor Amer Ghalib keeps talking about when accusing unnamed people of trying to undermine him politically or otherwise.
Or, how about: Jello shots. Does anyone really catch a buzz from these things?
Another old friend observed, about each passing festival year, in a sort of melancholy way: “Every year there are fewer people I know.”
Yep, we’re older now, and many of the other old-timers have moved on – one way, or another.
Speaking again of the canoe race: All of a sudden, two beer stands appeared on the site.
Finally, what genius. Beer balloons, anyone?
A musical highlight for this old fart: The Volebeats, who have been around for 40-some years or so, performing a tune from our all-time favorite band, The Byrds:“Wasn’t Born to Follow,” from the 1969 movie classic, “Easy Rider.”
The list goes on and on.
More importantly, what was your favorite part of the festival? Weird or otherwise? Drop us a line at: news@thehamtramckreview.com.
Well, until next year then, folks. And so long, summer.
Seems like we hardly knew you.
Posted Sept. 11, 2026