Question: What Happened to the Detroit-Windsor International Freedom Festival?
Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario share a border, a river and the early July birthdays of their respective countries. As a result, the five-day-long Detroit-Windsor International Freedom Festival was created in 1959 to celebrate not only the birthdays of Canada (July 1st) and the United States (July 4th), but the friendship between Canadians and Americans. The festival became home to the famous J.L. Hudson’s Fireworks and even merited its own flag.
Answer: With the opening of Detroit’s heralded RiverWalk in 2007, however, the five-day event morphed into International River Days – at least on the Detroit side of the river. As of 2009, Americans and Canadians are still prone to exuberant celebration: Detroit has River Days (6/19 to 6/21) and Windsor has its three-week-long Summerfest (6/12 to 7/5). The two cities also continue to enjoy the splendor of the Target Fireworks over the Detroit River.
