Stay Home This Labor Day With Local Fun, Festivals 

Food and fun is guaranteed at the 2022 Soaring Eagle Arts, Beats & Eats festival is over Labor Day weekend in Royal Oak.    By Sherri Kolade and Andre Ash    Call it the last staycation hurrah?   The Labor Day holiday weekend evokes memories of celebratory holiday happenings of years past, exciting memorable opportunities … Continued

Stay Home This Labor Day With Local Fun, Festivals 

Food and fun is guaranteed at the 2022 Soaring Eagle Arts, Beats & Eats festival is over Labor Day weekend in Royal Oak. 

 

By Sherri Kolade and Andre Ash

 

 Call it the last staycation hurrah?  

The Labor Day holiday weekend evokes memories of celebratory holiday happenings of years past, exciting memorable opportunities for the present, and a turning of the tides for the start of fall. 

With Labor Day already approaching quickly in Metro Detroit there is still time for a quick around the town trip with festivals and the like.  

One doesn’t have to fly halfway across the country to celebrate the occasion, right in your own backyard activities abound for residents looking for some fun close to home. 

The Soaring Eagle Arts, Beats & Eats 25th annual anniversary is set for four days of commemorative anniversary fun. 

Attendees can indulge in food from several local restaurants, including Drunken Rooster, Joe’s Grill and Real Taco Express. Everyone’s favorite tribute band, Your Generation In Concert, will perform a medley of songs from the national headliners as each artist is announced during this festival preview. Additionally, two of the festival art exhibitors will be on hand with displays of their artwork for a true preview of the “Arts,” “Beats” & “Eats” that will be showcased in Royal Oak this year, according to a press release.  

On Saturday, Sept. 3 and Sunday, Sept. 4, hundreds of children on the autism spectrum and family members will enjoy a one-day access pass to the festival, which includes free parking, free admission for up to five family members, a free bottle of water upon entering the festival from 10 a.m.-noon, and free lunch for the first 550 registrants per day.  

Additionally, the festival will open one hour early for participating families to give their children free private access to the festival carnival. Participants must have a family member on the ASD spectrum to be eligible for this program. For more information and to register (one sign-up per family) visit artsbeatseats.com/family-days.  

FEEL THE RHYTHM, MOVE YOUR BODY  

Zumba fans can get ready to dance and sweat on Saturday, Sept. 3, during the annual Priority Health Zumbathon, a fun and active event for a great cause. The long-running, favorite festival activity will transform the Michigan Lottery Stage from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. into a red-hot, exhilarating dance fitness explosion. In conjunction with Vibe Fit Studio, a metro Detroit fitness studio, the class will feature over 150 other local Zumba instructors from across Michigan and will support a local charity. Last year, 1,600 people participated in this sold out Zumba Fitness party, which benefitted HAVEN, Oakland County’s only comprehensive program for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.  

To register for this year’s Priority Health Zumbathon, visit artsbeatseats.com  

FESTIVAL HOURS AND ADMISSION  

Soaring Eagle Arts, Beats & Eats will be open 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2 through Sunday, Sept. 4; and 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. Monday, Sept. 5. Admission is free before 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2 and $10 after 5 p.m. Every other day, admission is $5 before 3 p.m. and $10 after 3 p.m. Cash and credit card transactions will be accepted at gate entrances.  

More than 365,000 visitors attended the four-day festival and generated nearly $400,000 to donate to local charities.  

Since the event began in 1998, more than $6 million has been raised by the festival for community and charitable organizations.  

Jon Witz, Arts Beats & Eats Festival producer, told the Michigan Chronicle that there are great music line ups, a diverse food scene and art that is out of this world. 

“Our event has always been about culture and diversity,” Witz said. “It is just the nature of the (festival) with the entertainment, food and diverse programming. Diversity is important. We’ve always been about the community.” 

Kristen Collins, the owner of custom interior design decorations company Abode Impressions, told the Michigan Chronicle that as a Black business owner it’s great to receive even more recognition and visibility for her business at the festival. 

“This is our second Arts, Beats & Eats, Collins said. “I’m really highlighting corporate packages now for the holidays as well as gift packages for holidays.” 

Her home décor line features hand-painted items varying from serving trays to coasters, wine stoppers and more, and she said that companies now can put their logo on her products, which she described as a “great customized feature.” 

She added that people are drawn to festivals to purchase local, handmade items, which she excels at. 

“I do a lot of (local) Detroit products,“ Collins said, adding that she is looking forward to meeting more customers. 

For additional public information, visit www.artsbeatseats.com or call 248-541-7550. 

Detroit Jazz Festival Sets Return for Labor Day Weekend  

The Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation has been the force behind the annual production and celebration of jazz music concerts during Labor Day weekend in Detroit.  

The end-of-summer event is the world’s largest free jazz festival, and it features world-class talent.  

“It’s a fantastic and exciting time for all of us throughout the jazz industry,” said Christopher Collins, President and Artistic Director of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation. “Around the world festival and performance venues are coming back online. It’s created a very exciting year in 2022 for artists, crew, and venues, and the patrons that make this happen.”  

Collins is referring to the festival having to turn to social media for virtual-only performances in recent years due to COVID-19 restrictions which canceled the in-person gathering event in 2020 and 2021.  

The festival gathered an impressive new digital audience with broadcast performances garnering nearly one million views in 2020 and over two million in audience viewership in 2022, respectively.    

“The history, the evolution of this city, its culture, and jazz music and Detroit has this unique symbolic relationship with the whole world… I don’t of anything in the world that compares with the quality and magnitude of the Detroit Jazz Festival and the fact that you can come here for free.”  

Thanks to the support of corporate sponsors, individual donations, and philanthropic organizations, the Detroit Jazz Festival is able to welcome attendees free of charge.   

Each year’s lineup of more than 60 performances as remarkable and diverse as the genre itself, as well as spontaneous late-night jam sessions, offers something for everyone, according to the festival’s website.