DETROIT – Happy Marche du Nain Rouge!
The annual celebration has become a true “if you know, you know” event in the city of Detroit, but it seems that the parade and party gets bigger and bigger as the years go on.
Recommended Videos
What started as a parade attended by a couple hundred people back in 2010 has grown into a parade that draws in thousands of attendees every year. It’s fun, festive and has a DIY aesthetic that keeps folks coming back year after year. It’s like Detroit’s own version of Mardi Gras.
If you’ve attended the parade you probably have a somewhat firm grasp on who the Nain Rouge is, but if you’ve never heard of it, or just can’t translate French into English
“Nain Rouge” in French translates to “red dwarf” in English, and that’s exactly who Detroiters are celebrating at the annual event. Although in this case, “celebrate” sounds like too nice of a word. Detroiters are trying to run the Nain Rouge out of Detroit, so it’s more of a liberation from the nasty red dwarf who brings bad luck to Detroit and its residents.
The Legend of Nain Rouge
As legend of the Nain Rouge goes all the way back to 1701, when the city of Detroit was founded by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. Legend has it that Cadillac was attacked by the Nain Rouge, and the little red dwarf curses Cadillac and the city.
That’s why whenever something terrible happened to the city of Detroit, people claimed they saw the Nain Rouge when it happened. According to legend, the Nain Rouge appeared during 1763′s Battle of Bloody Run, in which British soldiers surprise attacked Chief Pontiac, as well as in 1805 when nearly all of Detroit was burnt to the ground in a fire.
The Nain Rouge has showed up even more recently, like when the infamous Detroit rebellion happened in 1967, as well as in 1976, when two DTE workers claim they saw what looked like a child climb a utility pole during a snowstorm that shut down the city.
It’s all hearsay and rumors, but it’s hard to deny the legend when no one has seen it with their actual eyes.
The Parade
So now that you know what the Nain Rouge is, what actually happens at the Marche du Nain Rouge?
On the first Sunday after the Spring Equinox, thousands of people gather in Detroit’s Cass Corridor ready to run the Nain Rouge out of Detroit.
The parade is a march down Second Avenue, and it is some of the best people watching you will ever see in the city. Costumes have gotten more extravagant over the years, but most people will wear the color red, and it’s encouraged to wear a mask, so that the Nain Rouge won’t recognize you.
New Orleans-style brass bands are playing music, floats are traveling down the parade route and people are just having fun! It’s very much a come-as-you-are kind of parade, and you get to be a part of it!
The parade ends at the Masonic Temple, and that’s when the crowd gets to see the infamous Nain Rouge (a man dressed in a red devil costume and la sparkly jacket), and Detroiters officially get to banish the Nain Rouge out of the city.
It’s cathartic and symbolized turning over a new leaf for spring and summer. Detroit is constantly on the upswing and in a regrowth, so banishing the Nain Rouge is the perfect metaphor for not only the city, but for the attendees as well.
There are even people who protest the parade, as they think the Nain is a misunderstood creature of folklore. It’s honestly hard to tell if they’re actually protesting, or it’s all in good fun -- but it just adds to the craziness of the day. You can’t find a more unique and fun parade as the Marche du Nain Rouge in Detroit.
Once the parade is over, attendees tend to scatter to any Cass Corridor bar that doesn’t have too long of a line to get in. If you’re lucky, you can hang out in the backyard of Old Miami, but my friends and I usually try to hit up Temple Bar, Honest John’s for some food and then Old Miami to close out the day.
This year’s Marche du Nain Rouge is on Sunday, March 24. If you want even more information about the annual parade, just click here and head to their website.