Hundreds of people gathered throughout Detroit today to celebrate the 313th birthday of Detroit.
I was one of them, attending a music concert at Campus Martius and the Visit Detroit birthday Twitter meetup event at Firebird Tavern.
It was a beautiful summer evening for a birthday celebration, with blue skies and temperatures in the mid-seventies.
Jam-packed crowds filled Campus Martius during the concert; people were lined up to get food and children played in the beach sand at the park.
The 313th birthday celebration has special meaning for people in the Detroit area: 313 is the main area code for the city.
I spent most of my evening at the Visit Detroit birthday event, enjoying speaker Stan Smith’s talk, panel discussion with Stan, Dave Murray, and Charlie Wollborg talking about what makes Detroit a great comeback city, the trivia contest, and meeting a whole new group of people.
When I learned there was no birthday cake for the event, I walked down to Astoria Bakery, bought a cake, and had them write “Happy 313th Detroit” on the cake so we could enjoy it.
“Detroit is big enough to matter in the world, but small enough for you to matter in it.” @WeKnowDetroit #DetroitBDay
Angela Hernandez – July 24, 2014 8:12pm
The trivia contest had people shouting out answers and quickly running up to win prizes like Tigers tickets, cruises on the Detroit River, tickets to local museums, hotel stays, and more.
I managed to win a gift certificate to Vicente’s Cuban Cuisine (thank you Visit Detroit and Vicente’s!) for knowing the answer to the question: What is Bois Blanc Island more commonly known as?
I had no competition for the question.
The answer is Boblo Island, which was known for its amusement park when I was growing up.
Happy 313th birthday Detroit!
