Hamtramck Neighborhood Arts Festival Debuts With A Flourish

On Saturday, the Hamtramck Neighborhood Arts and Music Festival gave us a chance to check out what the artists, writers, and musicians in the city are up to.

For an area of only 2.02 square miles, in which a total of 26 languages are spoken, Hamtramck might be the most culturally diverse place in Michigan. The whole of the city is surrounded by Detroit, and it has a level of urban density that makes it a truly walkable district.  It doesn’t come as surprising that the affordable living and multicultural community fabric make Hamtramck a haven for creative types.

This is the first year for the event, which is described on their Facebook page as “a festival that celebrates the unique qualities of the neighborhood and its arts community” that takes place on porches, in houses, on sidewalks and storefronts.

The festival began at 1:00pm and lasted through the afternoon until early evening. Perfect weather had everybody in good spirits and it was an interesting, pleasurable stroll through the city. Follow our tour through the festival by taking a look at our pictures below. Looking forward to seeing this happen again next year, and we tip our hats to the organizers of this cool event.

 Celebrating the Bier Garden on Jos Campau

DJ Scott Coleman at Detroit Threads

Exhibition Featuring Art of Glen L. Allen, Holly Hock, Shadia Zayed, and Joseph Louis Lapham

Matt Hunt (right), with his installation “Beer Drinking With Friends” explains how the piece was influenced by artist Tom Marioni to us

Classic Bengali Music from The Bengali School of Music at Playhouse, a home that’s been converted into a performance space in a Hamtramck neighborhood.

Wall art FILTER detroit

We found a neighborhood soccer game during the Hamtramck Arts Fest near the Write-A-House

The somewhat famous Write-A-House which recently won a Knight Foundation grant and will be occupied by Casey Rocheteau after she raises money through her Indiegogo campaign to move to the D.

Work of WC Bevan at Quiet House

WC Bevan shows off his stylized, repetitive forms during our visit

We kept running across these “ice burgers” with a purveyor on a neat pull-behind bike cooler that said, “What up dough?” So we had to try. This was the peanut butter one. Tasty.

“Yard/Zone” by Sarah Wagner at Popps Packing