Anyone from the Detroit area? Ford Field questions!
 

My wife and daughter are going to see the One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer concert at Ford Field, which are my daughter's favorite bands.

I would imagine that parking is going to be in demand. Any tips?

The current plan is to drop off my wife and daughter at Ford Field, and pick them up again after the concert.

Will this idea work????

Is the Ford Field area fairly safe?

We'll probably stay in the Dearborn area. We can't get enough of Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum.

Also, is it still illegal to broker/scalp or re-sell tickets in Michigan? I may or may not have made a killing one time, buying and flipping tickets, on sheer accident, when we ate at a restaurant near where the Tigers play while we were on vacation. I had no idea that it was against the law to resell tickets in MI, but was happy to walk away with almost $100 in profit in three transactions.

Thanks!!!!!

Can't really answer about the parking issues since I don't go down to Ford Field but I know there are restaurants/sports bars that have shuttle service so you could park yourself there and the wife and daughter could ride the shuttle. Someone else might be better able to direct you there.

Scalping tickets is still illegal in Michigan.

But it still happens, we saw scalpers outside Michigan Stadium when we went to the Manchester United game last week.

There is tons of parking available within several blocks. Depending on what else is going on in the area that day, it can be anywhere from $5 to $25.

Greektown Casino has free parking...you just have to go into the casino to get it validated. That's about a ten minute walk from Ford Field. It's a fairly safe area when it's busy...cops everywhere.

I'm no help on the parking, as I don't like cities, and any time I've been in Detroit it's been as a passenger who was overwhelmed, so parking didn't stick in my mind.

However, if you like microbrews, Detroit Beer Company is only about 1/2 mile away from Ford Field. They have great food in addition to good beer.

^^^ this one

it is really close to Ford Field. Greektown has some good food options, too.

when an event gets out, it will be ok to walk...just dont linger too long.

I did the check on wants/warrants . . .
 

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and there IS one for a clovis for scalping tickets:shocked:......:rolleyes:

I stayed at a nice Bed and Breakfast in Dearborn. Dearborn has changed in the past 20 years and is the largest concentration of Muslims in the US. If that makes a \difference to you.
Inns of Ferry street is a nice Bed and Breakfast, walking distance from Detroit Institute of Art.
Check pout the People Mover and parking at Cobo Hall.

Thank you for the replies, everyone!!!

We really like the Dearborn area. I'm not so sure that I am in love with the city, but any time that we are there, we are there to be at Greenfield Village....my goodness, I love being there.

We love going to the Westborn market, and generally pick up some lunch there.

Again, thank you for all of the replies, and please keep them coming!!!!

You mean Eastern Market. Huge fresh fruit and Vegetable market and gift shops. Open on Saturdays.

We love going to Westborn Market in Dearborn. It is a small grocery type place, focusing on fresh stuff. Until recently, just a few months ago, we had nothing like it in our area.

In fact, I loved Westborn Market so much that I worked very hard on an idea to start a place like it in my home town. Real estate here is high, relatively speaking, and I would have never had the capital to really get it going like it could be done. I literally spent hours and hours and hours of my life working on that plan, and even tried to rent a building, which fell through. Some millionaires bought the building I wanted to rent, redeveloped the property, and raised the rent by 3X!

I looked at two other buildings to try to start a version of the Westborn Market; one was tied up by another millionaire, and sat empty for years, and the other place has no parking.

It would have been a bootstrap business and struggle to start off and get the place going, except that I would have needed to get some bootstraps first, LOL.

I won't bore you with the other details, but, in honesty, the hope to start something like that is a bit of a real heartbreak in my life....

http://www.westbornmarket.com/locations/dearborn/

I'll check out the Eastern Market thing...it sounds cool!

http://www.detroiteasternmarket.com/index.php
http://www.innonferrystreet.com/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._Michigan.html

Haypoint,

Thank you!!!!!! We are now thinking about altering our travel plans so we can see the Eastern Market.

Thanks so much!!!! I do appreciate it!!!!

Eastern Market has gotten really commercial. Nothing like how I remember it as a kid. I much prefer Royal Oak farmers' market.

Last year, we stayed another night in Dearborn so we could go to the local farmer's market.

I had envisioned, with Dearborn being a more upscale town than where I live, and with the diverse population, that their farmer's market would be stellar.

I was never so disappointed in my life. I only found one or two vendors who were selling truly local produce, and the prices at this market were sky high. I'm not talking about 10% more...I am talking insane prices.

I'd rather just buy my stuff at Meijer.

Much of Dearborn has changed. Big Mosque across from the City Hall. Muslim prayers broadcast on street speakers, daily.
It has changed from the upscale Jewish community prior to 1990s.
The world has gotten more commercial, so I would expect the Eastern Market is more commercial since dozens of farmers loaded their pickup trucks with produce and headed to Eastern Market every Saturday. But recently I saw many small farmers selling quality produce.
It is beautiful in the spring when there are acres of potted flowers on sale there.

I recall one vendor that was part of a Detroit Garden Club. They are raising acres of vegetables on vacant tracts of land that once were city neighborhoods. Such noble projects could always use some support.

If you go to Eastern Market, stop in at Rocky's. It's a separate store on Russell Street right next to one of the sheds. They have all kinds of bulk spices and dried fruits and nuts and a lot of other stuff. I go there every time I'm in Michigan to stock up on spices I can't find around here.

Thank you again for the replies. I do appreciate them!!!!

One last question:

It appears in pictures that I found on Google that at Ford Field, a person can drive up to the front doors, and drop someone off, assuming that the road isn't blocked off for the event.

Is this true????? Can I get fairly close to one of the main entrances???

Thank you, haypoint!

Well, we made it to Detroit, had a great time, and made it back safely.

The girls loved the concert...and I had a good time too. After sitting in the car for an hour or so, I wandered towards Ford Field, out of sheer boredom. I wanted to know if you could hear the bands playing.

As I stood there, I bumped into a guy selling tickets, and bought a single floor seat from him. Just a few weeks ago, that ticket might have sold for $200 or more on ebay. My price? Only $20, after the show had been going on for a few minutes. I think I missed the first two songs, which isn't a big deal, because that isn't my type of music.

A few things of note:

The reselling of tickets is allowed within a certain radius of the event, so I am told. You cannot buy or sell tickets, lets say 50 miles away, but it is allowed within a certain area around the event. You need to double check this information, and is a YMMV thing. I don't even live in Michigan, so please check before trying to get tickets.

You can indeed drop someone off curbside at Ford Field, if the street isn't blocked off, and if there aren't 45,000 other people trying to get there too. We made it to about 5 blocks away, which worked out okay.

It appears that Greektown Casino may be now charging for event parking. I actually didn't make it to the casino. Downtown gridlock was unbelievable!!!! When I did see the garage, I saw a "FULL" sign, and parking across the street from GC was $40!!!. I was told that they may be charging now, but again, that is what I was told...and remember, I don't live in Detroit.

I really, really, really wanted to go to the Eastern Market, but Saturday was the Woodward Dream Cruise. Hotels in Dearborn were outrageously priced for Saturday, so we came on Sunday. You would think, that with all the hotel rooms in metro Detroit, that prices would be cheap! I will make it to the Eastern Market on the next trip though, and may make a trip centered around that market.

Thank you for all the help!!!! Your advice helped us have a wonderful trip!!!!! Thank you so much!!!!!

Dream Cruise Weekend is crazy busy. I think any other weekend would have been quite different. As the saying goes, " Come back to Detroit, we weren't shooting at you."

I think that is one reason we like the Detroit metro area, especially the Dearborn area. On normal weekends, when there is no big event in the area, like the Dream Cruise or a national Baptist convention, hotel rooms are relatively affordable for nice places.

We stayed at the Hyatt in Dearborn, which is now Adoba, or something like that, rooms were $54 a night, plus tax. The Hyatt was a nice place, and I wish that we could get that deal again.