By: Victoria Araj

On Saturday, a few of us got bundled up and braved icy temperatures to hang out with thousands of people at the Motown Winter Blast, a winter celebration in the heart of Detroit on Campus Martius.  The words “live music, free ice skating and marshmallow roast” was all that we needed to hear to hop in the car and head downtown.  The cost to enter was a donation of either clothing, canned food, a book or $1—all of which would be donated to Matrix Human Services.

First, we headed to the Hard Rock Café for lunch and watched out the window as kids waved the crafty creations they made at the kids tent.  It was fun to see families together having a great time taking in the sights and sounds of the City and munching on an elephant ear or two. 

We were interested in checking out the Ice Sculpture Garden that Quicken Loans sponsored and we were impressed with the array of designs and the cool lights that made them glow.  We sat in giant ice thrones and put our faces through the “cut outs” of Eskimos made of ice.  Athletes, animals and cartoons were depicted and the Motown Museum sculpture commemorated 25 years of operation.  In fact, each band that performed on stage played a variety of Motown songs during their sets which definitely added to the Detroit flavor.  Continuing with the theme was a Motown stand set up inside the Compuware Building where I purchased a 50th Anniversary t-shirt while watching a live Michael Jackson tribute.

We wandered around Campus Martius taking in all of the sights:  families ice skating, people roasting marshmallows at stations around the rink and kids throwing snowballs in Cadillac Square.  The laughter of children echoed from the outdoor games, amusement rides and snowshoe areas while the familiar scent of cotton candy and other food filled the air.  After five hours of investigating every corner of the event, we warmed up in one of the comfort zone tents and finished our day with a glass of wine at Enoteca’s wine tasting event. 

While during the spring and summer months, Detroit is known for fun times on the riverfront, the Winter Blast proves Detroiters know how to have a good time in any weather!  Oh, and that small cost to enter made a big difference…75,000 people attended Winter Blast and more than 500,000 pounds of items were collected in donations that will serve our community.  Chillin’ at the Winter Blast was cool in more ways than one!