Have fun with your family at a sporting event in Detroit. Watch the Detroit Tigers play baseball in Comerica Park (detroit.tigers.mlb.com) from April to September (or beyond if they make it to the World Series). Football fans can see the Detroit Lions play in Ford Field (detroitlions.com) from September to January. If you're a basketball fan, watch the Detroit Pistons play in the Palace of Auburn Hills (palacenet.com) from October to April. Watch the Detroit Red Wings play hockey in Joe Louis Arena (olympiaentertainment.com) from October to April.
Take your family to one of the annual events held in Detroit throughout the year. Go to the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy's (detroitriverfront.org) Detroit International River Days in June. The three-day event along the Detroit River front features live concerts, sand sculptures, river tours, carnival rides, and kids' activities. Attend the Parade Company's (theparade.org) America's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Held each year in November and in its 85th year in 2011, the parade in downtown Detroit has a different theme each year and features floats, marching bands, clowns, specialty acts and celebrity guests. During the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History's (chwmuseum.org) three-day African World Festival in August, you'll enjoy performances and activities such as hip-hop, jazz, Afro-pop and soul artists; salsa dance lessons; a string puppet performance; and African drum and dance.
Bring the entire family to see some of Detroit's major attractions. Check out cars and artifacts and learn about the history of automobiles through interactive exhibits in the Automotive Hall of Fame (automotivehalloffame.org). The museum is open from Wednesday to Sunday. At the Detroit Zoo (detroitzoo.org), your family will have fun not just seeing the animals but feeding the giraffes, taking a ride on the Tauber Family Railroad, watching a movie in the 3-D/4-D theater and taking a virtual-reality ride. The zoo is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.
Your family can have fun on a river tour, bike tour or behind-the-scenes tour. Diamond Jack's River Tours (diamondjack.com) departs from Detroit and Wyandotte from June to September. Your family will have fun seeing Detroit and Windsor landmarks on the two-hour narrated riverboat cruise. See Detroit by bike with Wheelhouse Detroit (wheelhousedetroit.com), where you can rent bikes for the whole family or take a bike tour. Kids' seats, trailers and tag-along bikes are available. Wheelhouse is closed on Sundays. Your family can learn how chocolate and candy are made and get free samples on a free self-guided tour of Morley Candy and Sanders (sanderscandy.com). Candy factory tours are available from Monday through Friday.
