Summer’s annual sendoff was once again a blast – of water

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck Labor Day Festival organizers proved that if they build it bigger, the crowd will get, well, bigger too.
And wetter.
We’re talking especially about the Canoe Race, held on Labor Day Monday during last weekend’s festival.
You see, despite the expanded area, the folks who showed up for this gawk fest still formed a shoulder-to-shoulder, water-balloon-throwing mob just this side of being criminally out of control.
And to those folks who are armed with super-duper water soakers? Some of you should be on some sort of a watch list.
But enough of that.
The setting for this year’s festival could not have been more picture-perfect: Sunny skies and mild weather. One last blast of summer in the city.

As usual, the live bands and performers attracted thousands of fans – and, frankly, once again we can say that no one beats Hamtramck when it comes to musical offerings. Hear that, Arts, Beats and Eats?
On top of that, the festival is always free to attend. Paying attention, Arts, Beats and Eats?
And indeed, the musical entertainment was non-stop. There was that, as well as the canoe race and Big-Time-style wrestling. Of course, people watching is always a favorite pastime for many.
Speaking of “entertainment,” on Monday, there was a (luckily, just) vocal skirmish between a biker dude and the MC of the wrestling matches, who got into a jaw-to-jaw argument about something.
That led a number of people witnessing it to ask: “Is this part of the act?”
Guess we’ll never know.
On Monday, as usual, one of the highlights of the day was set to be the Hamtramck Labor Day Parade.
All we can say this time is: “What happened to the parade?”
That’s because it only lasted for 20 minutes.
One organizer said it just might be that parades are a thing of the past.
But we did get a chuckle out of seeing the mayor and city council get loudly booed during the parade – no doubt by people fed up over the various ongoing scandals in city hall.
Monday night’s top headliner on the big stage was a 1990s favorite, Gangster Fun, who (word had it) reformed only as a favor to the city. Apparently, a huge fan base still exists for the Pontiac-formed combo.
Behind the scenes, there was increased serious talk of this possibly being the last year – at least for this set of organizers. The complaint was that city inspectors are getting increasingly heavy-handed in demanding this and that — and more money for this and that — and on and on.

On the other hand, in a few weeks all of this may blow over, and the planning for next year will begin anew.
In the meantime, festival organizers, who are all unpaid volunteers, had this message of thanks they posted on social media:
“Thank you to everyone who came to the Hamtramck Festival this past weekend…
“As a completely volunteer-run event, this is no small task to accomplish, and we hope we did a good job highlighting our city of Hamtramck. We also hope you had a good time, and that you come and visit the city throughout the year.
“Maybe we’ll even do it again next year?”
Posted Sept, 5, 2025