DEARBORN (WWJ) – The Ramadan Suhoor Festival in Dearborn is off to a flying start after more than 50,000 people attended the first weekend, celebrating the holiest month of the Islamic calendar.
An estimated 25,000 people attended the opening night of the event Friday, while nearly 35,000 showed up Saturday night in the Sears parking lot at the Fairlane Town Center, according to TCD Dearborn News.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud told WWJ ahead of the event the festival has a “warm, welcoming climate for all who attend, whether you’re Muslim or not."
That was apparent over the weekend, as people from all over the country – even some from outside the U.S. – came to celebrate, according to TCD Dearborn News.
Hammoud says Ramadan is a month “where you try to reconnect or connect to a greater degree with God, spiritually" through prayer and fasting from dawn to dusk.
During the holy month, fasting is broken each day with a meal known as Iftar, after sunset. A second meal, known as Suhoor, is taken before sunrise.
The Ramadan Suhoor Festival offers plenty of choices for that meal – with more than 50 food vendors throughout the venue, plus all sorts of entertainment, including music, prayers and more.
The festival runs 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. every Friday and Saturday through April 30.
The festival began in 2018, and while it had been on hiatus each of the last two years due to COVID-19. It returned in a big way, Hammoud says it has grown in popularity for a great reason.
“I think it’s largely grown because of the family-oriented environment that’s created and an atmosphere where Muslims can come – and non-Muslims can come as well – engage, learn, have great conversations over great food and really get that hearty meal in before the next fasting commences with the sunrise.”
More information on the Ramadan Suhoor Festival, including a list of vendors can be found on the event’s Instagram page.
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