This year’s Labor Day Festival offers something special

Next week the city turns into one big party as the annual Hamtramck Labor Day Festival takes over the northend of Jos. Campau. This year the festival has expanded in a number of ways, including the return of a second music stage. If we’re lucky, maybe we will get a glimpse of Wendy Case (Above)

By Charles Sercombe
It’s hard to believe but one week from now, the Hamtramck Labor Day Festival will return.
This year promises to be bigger and better.
Last year, because many folks and businesses were still recovering from the covid pandemic shutdown, the festival was much scaled down.
This year, festival organizers have returned the second music stage, and Big Time wrestling gets not one, but two days. That has turned out to be a big crowd pleaser.
The wrestling matches are Sunday and Monday (Sept. 4-5) at 3 p.m.
There will also be more food vendor and an expansion of artist booths and vintage clothing – so be sure to save up your money for that.
The biggest addition this year is the return of a parade on Monday, Labor Day.
A few years ago, organizers of the Polish Day Parade decided to take their floats and marching bands to Warren.
That left some folks here ticked off, but it also got some to think about organizing a parade for all-things-Hamtramck.
So, we’ll see a variety of local groups and whatnot in what’s being called the Labor Day Festival Parade. As usual the parade steps off at 1:30 p.m., starting at on Jos. Campau at Holbrook and will travel north through the festival grounds and end at Casmere.
This parade promises to provide a lot of hometown pride and – because this is Hamtramck – some laughs.
But before the parade, the highlight of the weekend for many is the canoe race. For those unfamiliar– really, are there some out there who don’t know? – these are handmade canoes on wheels that are operated by teams of three that race up and down with foot power and plenty of water balloons being thrown by onlookers.
So, technically there is water involved in this “canoe” race.
If you go, prepare to get soaked a bit – and there are almost too many people who crowd the race area to get a look and actually be encouraged to heave water balloons at each other.
(Photographers beware: you, too, will become a target, so porrect your gear. As the saying goes, all’s fair in love and war – and water balloon fights.)
The race begins at noon and promptly clears out to make way for the parade.
As usual there will be plenty of local bands and performers on the two music stages playing continuously throughout each festival day, starting at 1:30 p.m.
One of the bigger draws will be Detroit-based dance punk band ADULT. and funk rock band ESG. Both groups are the headliners on Monday.
Of course it wouldn’t be a music weekend without having Hamtramck faves The Polish Muslims and Danny D. And as usual, they will be playing on Sunday, starting at 5 p.m. (Danny D plays first).
The festival will be extra special this year because Hamtramck is celebrating the city’s 100th anniversary of becoming a city.
That’s the theme of the parade as well.
The Grand Marshal of the parade is Hamtramck’s very own Vera Burk, who at age 94 is almost a centenarian herself.
Burk will be riding in a vintage 1920s era Dodge – which is a homage to the once mighty Dodge Main plant that once employed most of the town.
Burk, by the way has a fascinating history.
Here’s how the Festival Committee described her many contributions to Hamtramck:
“(Burk) served on several city boards, including as president of the Hamtramck Block Club Association for more than 20 years, and as president of the Hamtramck Community Development Corporation for more than 20 years.
“There her group helped build nine houses and rehab several more in the city. Burk was instrumental in the fight against the forced removal of Black residents in the name of urban renewal in the 1960s.”
Burk is quoted in the committee’s press release saying:
“I’ve been here all my life. I love Hamtramck, it’s a neat city. It’s full of diverse people. When I came up, I was around all sorts of people in that 2.2 square miles, and it’s still a great place.”
Yes, Hamtramck is, indeed a great place, and you can share in the Hamtramck spirit during the festival, which runs Sept. 3-5, starting each day at noon and ending at 10 p.m. – ish, if you know what we mean.
This year’s Presenting Sponsor is Pleasantrees.
The festival is made possible in partnership with Hatch Art and the Hamtramck DDA, with support from Hamtramck Public Schools.

Aug. 26, 2022