Dearborn's night time food feast Ramadan Suhoor Fest kicks off Friday
Melody BaetensThe Ramadan Suhoor Festival in Dearborn is an outdoor, food-centric event focused on uniting the community during this holy month, and it almost didn't happen this year.
Thanks to massive positive feedback from former attendees, however, plus a few tweaks in operations, founder Hassan Chami and his team were able to get the event, which he says draws around 10,000 people per night, back up and running.
"I canceled back in December, and turned it back on in the middle of January when there was an outcry from the community," said Chami, adding that he took a social media poll to see if attendees would be comfortable with him raising the cover charge, which he did from $1 to $5 this year. Any funds leftover after expenses will go toward charity and the festival's student scholarship program.
Chami, who put on the Suhoor Fest in 2018, 2019 and 2022, is sticking with the spacious Fairlane Town Center, because it allows for easy access and plentiful free parking.
This year attendees can expect to choose from more than 60 food and drink vendors, plus those selling merchandise and others representing nonprofit and community organizations. There's a 55,000-square-foot tent where most of the action is, plus a 45,000-square-foot food truck park with about 18 trucks. In all, the Suhoor Fest has more than 80 vendors, and had to regretfully turn away more than half that many that applied.
While food and socializing is a big focus of the Ramadan Suhoor Festival, Chami says it's also about unifying the community.
"There are so many people who come to this festival from all different walks of life, from all different religions, it's not only Muslims," he said. "It's important for us to highlight our religion and our culture and share it with everyone else. It's a place to celebrate diversity, but when you come in, you'll see that it's very soothing. It's very calm and it's family friendly. It's not a very loud festival, even though you see thousands of people. You just feel the essence of community."
For Muslims, "suhoor" is the last meal eaten at night during Ramadan before the sun comes up and fasting resumes. At the festival, attendees can choose from sweet or savory food vendors — all halal — from fried chicken and waffles from the Chicken Coupe to loaded mini gourmet doughnuts from Hanky Panky Donuts.
Chami says this year the festival teamed up with the app LetsHalal, a brand-new third-party food ordering app. About half of the vendors will have LetsHalal barcodes so guests can order on their phone and not stand in line; they'll get a text when the food is ready.
mbaetens@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @melodybaetens
Ramadan Suhoor Festival
10:30 p.m.-2:30 a.m. Fri.-Sun., March 30-April 1, April 7-9 and April 14-15
Fairlane Town Center
18900 Michigan, Dearborn
Tickets start at $5 or $10 for families, purchase online in advance or pay cash at the gate
Free parking