Urban Vignettes Week 2: Party Detroit Style

Every city has its own traditions, and Detroit likes to rock out hard. There are celebrations and festivals all year round -- the first International Auto Show in Cobo Hall, runs on Belle Isle on New Year's Eve in the bitter cold, and the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning before the Thanksgiving Parade are old favorites, but there are smaller traditions growing, as well as trendsetting music festivals.

DEMF Logo 2012

To exemplify the big, the weird, and the communal, I have picked three Detroit celebrations. Firstly, the DEMF or Movement. Detroit Electronic Music Festival is every Memorial Day weekend (3rd weekend in May) and takes over Hart Plaza in the heart of Downtown Detroit on the riverfront. This festival started in 2000 and is a celebration of techno and electronic music in the birthplace of it all: Detroit. People from around the nation, and even the world come to hear the latest DJs and electronic masterminds spin and create. {Picture: DEMF Logo]

A completely different celebration, and entirely local movement, is the Marche du Nain Rouge. An event hailing back to when Detroit was still a French colony, locals dress in red and various costumes and create a ruckus to drive out du Nain Rouge (the Red Dwarf). It is held annually on the Saturday closest to the Vernal/Spring Equinox. A laid back and highly localized festival, the Marche brings people in costumes of devils, saints and natural elements. The goal: To banish the red-tinged, evil spirit that, according to legend, has haunted and troubled Detroit for three centuries. You can make your own effigy with your positive goals for Detroit: 

Make your own Nain Rouge effigy!

Photo Credit: Metromix 2011

Thirdly, and the last for this post, the Dally in the Alley is an example of neighborhood building that grows in popularity each year, and brings neighbors out to create a more unified city. This festival is simple but it creates a space of safety, creativity, and neighborliness that is crucial for residents. It is a block party - the neighborly tradition in cities and towns across America. A small, FREE celebration with arts, music, food, beer and fun, it brings crowds of people that are new and old to the city. It's a great way to meet people and see the inside story of the city. [Picture: Dally 2011, credit Metromix} 

Dally in the Alley Poster

The Dally is held around Labor Day, in early Fall/September, each year, and always holds the promise of new friends with old neighbors.

When you get Detroit, you get the quiet parties in backyards, the loud festivals in public spaces, and the ridiculous traditions in side streets. You also get the tech, the auto, the art, and the music, and the beauty of tradition. When you're here, you become part of the Detroit community, the family, the small town feel in a big city place.

Come party with us.

Sincerely,

Kaity Nicastri,

Detroit Lover

If you want to read the original post, go to Urban Vignettes! 

Disclaimer: This post was written while on a week-long road trip, so I was not able to supply my own original photos for the blog.

The Importance of Being Earnest

Not only is the title one of the most brilliant plays by an Irish author (Oscar Wilde!), but it's a great tagline to remember as a community worker. If you cannot be earnest, if you cannot be sincere, if you cannot take what you are doing and really relate it to those who are affected by it, then you cannot be successful. The ability to be earnest, is really the ability to relate to and communicate with those around you.

So, I return to you, you amazing person, with a wondrous summer of European adventures and shenanigans behind me. I taught Italian 9-11 year olds the fine art of speaking English and having fun while doing so in June, and then nannied for two brilliant Swiss/German/American tots in Zurich, Switzerland while floundering to speak Swiss German. In between I visited with family, met my grandfather's cousins in Calabria, sipped fine European wines, swam in the beautiful, salty Mediterranean, wandered the streets of Paris in heels for several days, saw a giant fork in the lake of Geneva, hugged Charlie Chaplin (OK, it was a statue!), visited my [future] office at the UN, basked in the Barcelonian sun, sipped OJ over a fine Spanish meal with Ashley Ambirge, danced salsa with Moroccans in Spain, enjoyed gelato e brioche in Palermo, ate just regular il gelato in un cono in Firenze, shopped for Italian jeans in Milano, rode a gondola in Venezia, met Colombianos on a crazy Italian train ride, met a Caribbean Canadian resident of Switzerland in a train station after a crazy train ride from France and before making it back to Zurich... so not very busy.

I returned to Detroit only to leave again on a cross country road to Seattle - which I accomplished in 50 hours switching driving shifts with my good friend and taking in some amazing scenery in the plains and Black Hills of Western America. We even stopped at Mt. Rushmore for a quick peek! All in all, the summer was eventful, and taught me a lot about myself and the languages of the world. The following is a quick photo summation of my summer:

Gelato in Brioche

Firenze: birthplace of gelato

Sunset over the Mediterranean

Chateau de Versailles

Tour Eiffel at night

Sacre Couer - what a climb!

My future office

Yes, I took all the photos myself. I will be coming back more often to write a little about happenings in D-town and community+public arts: DETROIT!