Harvest Fest celebrates fall at Detroit's Dequindre Cut this weekend
An explosion of fall festivities and food will take place Saturday and Sunday along Detroit’s Dequindre Cut Greenway. The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy’s second annual Harvest Fest and Food Truck Rally plus its preview Soirée on the Greenway fundraiser are filling the greenway with pumpkins, trick or treating, costumes, a mysterious circus, live music and more than 50 food trucks.
“Fall is one of the great seasons that we have in Michigan, and we are excited to invite everyone down again to the riverfront to enjoy a family-friendly weekend of entertainment, fun activities and a full mile of food trucks,” said Mark Wallace, president and CEO of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy.
In addition to trick-or-treating (kids are encouraged to dress in costume), highlights for children are a pumpkin decorating station, inflatable bounce houses, crafts, meet-and-greets with a costumed princess and superhero, a children’s stage with interactive programming and a pumpkin patch where they can take home a pumpkin for free.
New this year is a petting zoo, where kids can interact with an alpaca, donkey, goats, sheep, ducks, chickens and bunnies. Most children’s activities will take place from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. both days.
Adults can enjoy the “Cirque de Freight Yard” including circus busker performers, psychics and tarot card readers, old-style carnival games and a specialty cocktail.
Six stages along the greenway will feature local performers, including Aston Neighborhood Social Club (modern vintage), Alise King (soul), Cast Iron Cornbread (rock), Laura Rain & The Caesars (R&B), REDD (alternative hip hop) and Roots Vibrations (reggae). There will also be a costume contest for dogs and cats on Saturday.
“It’s just a great celebration of all the things that are unique and fun about Detroit,” said Rachel Frierson, director of programming for the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. “We’re known for great food, we’re known for great culture. The pandemic is still going, you can have a nice, beautiful afternoon with your family. There’s something for everyone."
A highlight of the event is the unveiling of a new mural by artist Ivan Montoya.
Cassie Brenske, the Riverfront’s chief development officer, said the mural covers the length of the underpass and is by far the coolest mural that will be on the Cut.
“It’s got all these animals that are kind of flying in the air,” she said. “When you go under it, running or biking, it’s going to feel like you’re part of the mural.”
Friday’s adults-only Soirée is a more intimate preview of Harvest Fest, which adds a masquerade. It will also include performances from the Motley Misfits circus-style troupe, plus a “bizarre” musical performance from the Aston Neighborhood Pleasure Club, accompanied by Flames N’ Dames fire dancers.
“Being out there [at Soirée] is supporting the amazing work that we do at the Conservancy,” Brenske said. “But it will also be just an amazing memory to be down there at a masquerade and see the amazing performers and local artists that we’ve tapped to be a part of it.”
Harvest Fest
11 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
Tickets: $5; children younger than 3 get in for free.
Soirée on the Greenway
6-10 p.m. Friday
Tickets: $75
Both events will be located along the Dequindre Cut Greenway, between Orleans and St. Aubin and runs from Mack to Atwater.
For more information visit www.detroitriverfront.org.