The 44th annual Hamtramck Labor Day Festival ran August 31 through September 2, 2024. Joseph Campau Avenue from Caniff to Carpenter. Free admission.
Banana 101.5 Volunteer-run. Two stages. Three days of music plus a carnival, wrestling shows, a canoe race, a parade, and a pierogi-eating contest.
Jack White closed it. White hadn't been confirmed publicly until two weeks before the festival. Then a press release went out Thursday evening: he would join his old garage band the Hentchmen on the South Stage Monday night for a few songs.
He had played on the Hentchmen's 1998 album "Hentch-Forth," which his label Third Man Records reissued in 2017. The reunion at Hamtown was small, kinetic, and exactly what the festival was for. "What up, Hamtramck!" White called out to the crowd.
He played several songs. Some attendees had visibly been waiting through earlier sets just for the moment. The Hentchmen played the rest of their show without him.
The rest of the lineup carried weight on its own. Saturday brought Detroit rappers Sada Baby, Esham, Bruiser Wolf, and Gmac Cash plus Nashville's Be Your Own Pet. Sunday brought Canadian rock band Sloan and Mike Skill of the Romantics.
Monday before White featured Cleveland punk pioneer John D Morton's band X______X with Craig Willis Bell of Rocket from the Tombs in the lineup. Hamtramck regulars like the Polish Muslims, Double Winter, Loose Koozies, and Amino Acids filled out the schedule. Konrad Maziarz, the festival chairman, summarized why Hamtown Fest still matters: "We're so proud that our festival is still around, and free, and volunteer-run.
It's a lot of work to put on but we can't imagine any other way to celebrate all the weird and wonderful cultural and artistic achievements of Hamtramck." Yahoo! Polish bakery, Yemeni cafe, Bangladeshi restaurant. Hamtramck hosts whoever is here, and the festival reflects that.
The pierogi-eating contest is annual and competitive. The carnival rides are loud and not particularly safe-feeling. The crowds, by Maziarz's accounting, were the largest in several years.
Location: Joseph Campau Avenue from Caniff to Carpenter, Hamtramck
