Detroit Staycation: African World Festival and Woodward Dream Cruise

If this is Thursday, it's Detroit Staycation Time! If this is the 3rd weekend of August, it's time for the African World Festival on Hart Plaza! If this is the 3rd Saturday of August, it's time for the Woodward Dream Cruise!

The African World Festival, now in its 26th year, is touted as the largest African-themed festival in the world. Sponsored by the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, features entertainment, artists and artwork from around the world, a market place, storytelling, and food and fun for the entire family. The Festival starts Friday, August 15 and runs through Sunday, August 17.

Special guest artists this year include the O'Jays, Rootz Underground from Jamaica, Mo'Nique, and one of Detroit's Blues Queens, Thornetta Davis, who will be getting married on stage! There will be face painting, arts and crafts, stilt walkers, and martial arts and dancing for the kids; and African drummers and a Step Show for the grown folks. An exciting cultural treasure to experience and celebrate the heritage of the African Diaspora in Detroit! Like all the summer festivals at Hart Plaza on the Detroit River, the African World Festival is free!

On Saturday August 16, the 14th Annual Woodward Cruise rolls down Woodward Avenue, "America's First Highway". Betcha didn't know that Woodward Avenue was the first concrete paved thoroughfare in the world!

The Woodward Dream Cruise, which has grown into the world's largest one-day celebration of America's car culture, originally started as a fundraiser for a soccer field in Ferndale! The Cruise attracts more than one million visitors and over 40,000 classic and custom-built cars every year. The Woodward Dream Cruise will last from 9 am to 9 pm, and the route stretches from Ferndale to Pontiac, Michigan. It is an alcohol-free, family-friendly event. The official Woodward Dream Cruise website has all of the latest news about this exciting--and free!--event.

As everyone in metro Detroit knows, the Dream Cruise actually starts before the Saturday official event; on Thursday at Comerica Park, there will be a Classic Car Show and Musical Entertainment from 4 - 10 pm. On Friday in Ferndale, there will be an "Emergency Vehicle Show", musical entertainment, and the official ribbon-cutting ceremony. Pontiac will be hosting several musical events all day on Friday and Saturday. For a listing of all the events hosted by the nine cities of the Dream Cruise, just check out the website.

If it's summer in Detroit, it's time for fun in the "D"! Did I mention the musical acts? If it's Detroit, you know there will be music!

Shameless Plug: please read my husband's blog The "D" Spot...

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