Lighting up Michigan Central Station

Michigan Central Station in Blue by Rhonda Hawbaker Hines

The Michigan Chronicle shares plans for the 10-day grand reopening of historic Michigan Central Station in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood that takes place a month from now:

During a presentation to the Detroit City Council to secure permits, Michigan Central CEO Josh Sirefman detailed the “Open Live” concert slated for June 6, which will be streamed globally from the Roosevelt Park location just north of the iconic train station. The free event will welcome 15,000 attendees with pre-registration required, offering a 90-minute concert headlined by yet-to-be-announced entertainment.

…From June 7-16, Michigan Central will host an open house to welcome up to 60,000 visitors, offering a glimpse into the meticulously restored 1913 structure. Additional tours will be available every Friday and Saturday through August 31 with pre-registration. These events aim to celebrate the building’s restoration and showcase its transformation. Michigan Central is coordinating with city officials, including the mayor’s office, police and fire departments, and a private security consulting firm to ensure a safe experience, drawing on insights from Detroit’s recent hosting of the NFL Draft.

Click through for lots more. By all accounts the renovation is amazing!!

Rhonda shared this photo a week ago. Click above to comment on it & click here to see more of her pics of MCS in the Detroit Photography Group!

Detroit has gone big before!

Detroit Electronic Music Festival, 2002 by Black Scroll Network

I’m still recovering from the MASSIVE event that was the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit which hosted over 3/4 of a million people. There will be more posts, but I thought this post that Jamon Jordan of Black Scroll Network History & Tours shared on Facebook gives some great perspective on some of the massive events the Motor City has hosted over the years:

I’m sure everyone is aware that the crowds at the NFL Draft in Detroit are so large that no one else is being allowed into the 3 entry points. About 275,000 people are right here at, in or near Campus Martius, and Cadillac Square plus another 100,000 people in other venues downtown – Greektown, Hart Plaza, Grand Circus Park.

But Detroit has hosted large crowds before. Take a look at some of the large crowds – 100,000 or above – in Detroit’s history:

June 23, 1963 – Detroit Walk to Freedom – 125,000-250,000 people marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. & Rev. CL Franklin and heard Dr. King’s “Dream” 2 months before Washington DC.

August 19 – September 5, 1966 – Michigan State Fair – 1.2 Million people (our record attendance) The Temptations was one of the acts performing that year on Woodward between 7 & 8 Mile.

June 6, 1997 – Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup Victory Parade – 1.4 Million people came down to celebrate with the Wings. And they threw an octopus on the streets too.

July 21, 2001 – 300th Birthday of Detroit/Free Stevie Wonder concert – 500,000-1 Million people listened to Stevie Wonder at Hart Plaza and watched the fireworks.

May 24-27, 2002 – Detroit Electronic Music Festival – 1.7 Million people. The Techno Festival surpassed a million people each of it’s 1st 3 years – 2000, 2001 & 2002 (2002 DEMF is pictured).

There are a TON more in the post on Facebook. You can follow Jamon on Instagram @jamonblackscrollhistorian & for sure check out Black Scroll Network for history tours of Motown!

2024 NFL Draft in Detroit

2024 NFL Draft Stage in Detroit by Brad Galli WXYZ

The 2024 NFL Draft kicks off TODAY in Detroit, Michigan. WXYZ Sports Director Brad Galli shared this photo of the stage lit up & ready to go! In case you’re wondering, they didn’t use Ford Field, Comerica Park, Fox Theatre or any of Detroit’s other big venues because the crowd is so massive. Detroit is anticipating 300,000 – 400,000 people over three days!!

I live in Detroit & will be posting a lot of updates to the Michigan in Pictures Facebook & also to my personal Instagram. You can get a lot of general info about the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit along with some events I’m looking forward to right here.

Mind the Gap (on Gordie Howe Bridge)

Mind the Gap (on Gordie Howe Bridge) by Andrew Dean

EDITOR’S NOTE: I know I just shared a pic of this bridge, but on my post about the Gordie Howe Bridge last week there was such a depressing eruption of ignorant & nativist nonsense that I remembered why I decided to put Michigan in Pictures to bed a while back. I need to be super clear: I am a progressive. I believe all people have a right to good food, clean water, and a warm place to live. I also believe that the United States is far better when we open up to the world. It’s fine if you don’t believe in that, but if you disbelieve in a disrespectful fashion or in any way attack decent folks, I’ll block you so fast you won’t believe it. OK now on to the post:

The Gordie Howe Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario to Detroit, Michigan is expected to be completed in time for a September 2025 opening. The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority shared an update earlier this year that says (in part):

Having delivered the busiest year of construction to date, the Gordie Howe International Bridge project team is able to confirm a new completion and opening timeline. Construction completion is planned for September 2025 with the first vehicles expected to travel across the bridge that fall.

Originally, the $5.7 billion (CDN) project was scheduled for completion in November 2024 with opening anticipated by the end of that year. However, the project, like many others, experienced unprecedented disruptions as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The disruptions were even more prevalent for the Gordie Howe International Bridge project given the differing applicable restrictions in the US and Canada, combined with the ramping up of construction activities in early 2020.

…Recognizing that an extended construction period impacts the project host communities, WDBA has budgeted for a one-year extension of the Gordie Howe International Bridge Community Benefits Plan. With $3 million (CDN) to be divided equally between Canada and the US and expended over the 2025-2026 fiscal year, residents and business owners in Sandwich/west Windsor and Delray/Southwest Detroit will see positive outcomes from further regional investments. Additional details on the approach to allocating this funding will be shared later in 2024.

Andrew shared this photo or the small remaining gap in the bridge along with several others. Click through to his Facebook for many more great shots. Head over to his website to view & purchase his work or drone services.

More bridges on Michigan in Pictures!

Tigers Win!

Tigers Win (the Home Opener) by Dave Lorenz

In nearly 30 years of doing Michigan in Pictures, I’ve had a lot of firsts, but this is the first time I’ve shared a photo from the VP of Travel Michigan aka Pure Michigan! Dave has been an absolute champion for Michigan over the years. He was at the Detroit Tigers home opener that they won 5-4 and writes:

It was sunny.
It was cloudy.
It was windy.
It was cold.
It actually…snowed.
The Tiger’s won their ’24 opening home game.
A perfect day.

Agreed & let’s go Tigers!!

Get ready for the Detroit Tigers Home Opener!

The Detroit Tigers first Opening Day courtesy Detroit Historical Society

The Detroit Historical Society shared: The Detroit Tiger’s Opening Day has always been cause for celebration!  While baseball’s return and renewed championship hopes are enough to excite sports fans, the promise of the long summer days baseball brings with it never fails to put the rest of the city in a celebratory mood.

The caption of the photo is: Photo: c. 1886, from the Detroit Historical Society collection. Black and white photographic print depicting the Detroit Wolverines playing at Recreation Park, as seen from behind home plate. Mounted on board.

Definitely our red hot Tigers being THE ONLY undefeated team in baseball & in first place in the AL Central has the city extra fired up for the home opener against the Gonna Be in Vegas Next Year A’s.

Read more & see pics including the shot of them building the bleachers at Bennet Park/Navin Field back in 1910 at the Detroit Historical Society & let’s go Tigers!!

Gordie Howe’s Last Girder

Gordie Howes Last Girder by photosbyjoeyd

Joey got an incredible drone shot of workers laying the last girder in place to connect the deck of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge to the Detroit Port of Entry. An astonishing project that is directed and paid for by Canada!

Check out more photos by Joey on his Instagram and view & purchase photos on his website!

Lots more bridges on Michigan in Pictures!

Mapping the Murals in Detroit

The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth by Derek Farr

The Detroit Free Press had a recent feature on a new digital map of the city of Detroit’s murals:

Detroit’s office of Arts, Culture & Entrepreneurship (Detroit ACE) announced Wednesday it is partnering with CANVS, an art technology company, to identify all the outdoor art on city walls.

ACE Director Rochelle Riley announced the initiative during a news conference in front of Chroma, a co-working office space in the Milwaukee Junction neighborhood. The CANVS collaboration, which involves an iPhone application and an online map, is part of Mayor Mike Duggan’s “Blight to Beauty” campaign promoting public art.

Riley declared the upcoming season “the summer of Detroit murals,” and said ACE will begin enlisting “mural hunters,” an army of supporters who will help enter murals into the registry.

To better connect residents to murals, CANVS will create a digital map on the ACE webpage that will allow users to create tours of similar murals, or find murals they have seen, but do not remember where.

Lorren Cargill, co-founder of the startup, said one of his company’s missions is to better connect community to art. “When art becomes more accessible, it allows people to better connect with the city,” he said.

You can learn more about the Mural map and other efforts through Detroit ACE and head over to CANVS to get the app and sign up to be a mural hunter.

Derek took this shot somewhere in Detroit back in March. Where exactly? I don’t know but I’ll find it with this app someday!! See more in his massive Detroit gallery on Flickr.

More murals on Michigan in Pictures.

River Otters and the Detroit River comeback

River Otter by Ashleigh Mowers

Great Lakes Now has an excellent feature on the return of river otters to the Detroit River that says (in part):

On the cool morning of April 25, doctoral student Eric Ste Marie from the University of Windsor’s department of integrative biology went out for a walk with his partner along the Detroit River prior to an anticipated long day in his lab. Much to his surprise, he saw an animal pop its head out of the water. It was too big to be a mink and, as it dove, he noticed that it did not have a flat beaver tail. Ste Marie ran out to the end of a pier beneath the Ambassador Bridge to get a closer look to check, and there it was: a river otter.

River otters were quite common in southeast Michigan, including the Detroit River, up through the arrival of European explorers and fur traders,” said Gearld P. Wykes, a historian from the Monroe County Museum System. “During the fur trade era, they were much sought after for their fur, along with beaver. Based on historical records, river otters were likely extirpated from the Detroit River in the early 1900s.”

In 1986, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reintroduced river otters into high water quality rivers and streams in eastern Ohio. The river otters thrived. As their population grew, they began to move westward – what scientists call expanding their range. By the early 2000s, they had found a home in western Ohio, particularly near Cedar Point and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, just east of Toledo.

…Biologists studying the Detroit River and resource managers have been excited about the possible range expansion of river otters into the Detroit River. There have been a few anecdotal reports from citizens, but no photographic or videographic proof until Ste Marie was greeted with that ecological surprise on the morning of April 25.

…River otters are considered an indicator species, and their return to the Detroit River after an absence of more than 100 years is a hopeful sign of improving watershed conditions.

Ashleigh took this back in 2016 in Detroit at the Detroit Zoo. Hopefully she gets a shot of them in the wild! See more in her Detroit gallery on Flickr & for sure check out her Go See Do Photography website for more great pics!

More about River otters on Michigan in Pictures.

Kick out the jams at Detroit’s Grande Ballroom

And Let Me Be Who I Am by Derek Farr

“Let me be who I am, and let me kick out the jams”
-The MC5

The Detroit Metro Times recently shared that $5 million could net you Detroit’s historic Grande Ballroom:

The abandoned Grande Ballroom is up for sale for a hefty $5,000,000, according to a listing on Jim Shaffer and Associates Realtors that went online this week. The old-school music hall was a hub for classic and psychedelic rock bands in the 1960s until it closed in 1972. Since then, it has sat looming like a fading memory of a bygone era.

Back in the days of sex, drugs, and, rock ‘n’ roll, the ballroom hosted acts like Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, Janis Joplin, and even John Coltrane and Sun Ra. MC5 became regulars on the stage and recorded its 1969 debut album Kick Out the Jams there, and in recent years a mural of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-nominated band’s guitarist Wayne Kramer was painted on the side of the building.

You can read a lot more about the Grande Ballroom on this website & watch the awesome documentary Louder Than Love: The Grande Ballroom on the Detroit Public Television Facebook page!

Derek took this shot of the mural on the Grande a couple of years ago. See TONS more in his excellent Detroit gallery on Flickr.