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Celebrate Fat Tuesday Like Nowhere Else: Downtown Hamtramck
You don’t need to be in New Orleans to celebrate Fat Tuesday in style; in fact, you can celebrate the “Polish Mardi Gras” all over Michigan, but no place tops downtown Hamtramck.
In celebration of Paczki Day, thousands will converge on Hamtramck—Michigan’s most diverse city—to kick of a week of Polish food and music and both family-friendly and less than family-friendly entertainment.
On Saturday, Feb. 13 from 11 AM–3 PM, Hamtramck will host the annual Countdown to Paczki Day. This year’s events will include a free paczki for attendees, polka music from
traditional Polish dancers Misty Blues, and the Paczki Toss.
Celebrating locally is part of the Michigan spirit, and each year the Paczki Day festival continues to attract more people from around the state. In 2008, even comedian Mo Rocca
came down to check out the festivities.
On Tuesday, Feb. 16, the real celebration begins. The city once again comes together for day-long festivities including Polish food and drink and a bar crawl. Hamtramck
favorites—the Polish Muslims, the Keilbasa Kings, Polka Floyd and others—will make the rounds at local Hamtramck venues. Small's will also once again be offering their infamous Paczki Bombs, mini-paczkis stuffed with vodka and rum.
"Hamtramck continues to contend with a struggling automotive industry, but our annual Paczki Day festivities remind us that the simple things—a community united in spirit—can mean
the world," says Eve Doster Knepp, Events Coordinator for the City of Hamtramck.
Both festivals are free and open to the public. Support rebuilding Michigan from the ground up—engaging in local community celebrations helps to reinvigorate downtown areas and,
let’s face it, is just downright fun.
Traditional Paczki servered during Paczki Day celebration in downtown Hamtramck
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dumin/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Comedian Mo Rocca covers Paczki Day for CBS Morning News in 2008
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