Crews begin setting up for Dearborn Ramadan Suhoor Festival next week
DEARBORN, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - With the kick-off to Dearborn's Ramadan Suhoor Festival just 10 days away, festival founder Hassan Chami has crews drilling down structures and setting up tents ahead of the city's most anticipated event of the year.
"It's very exciting to see the tents and structures going up," Chami says.
The festival will feature 80 vendors, 18 of which will be merchandise and apparel and the rest will be food and dessert.
Chami says all of those vendors will be secured and heated under five long tents large enough to cover the length of nearly two football fields in order to help keep guests happy.
"We also have heaters. We have about 50 heaters circling around the perimeter of the tent, these blowers that come in. Hopefully, we can get up to 50 or 60 degrees in here. That's the plan," Chami says.
Some new features at this year's festival will be a $5 cover charge to help cover the costs of the festival, online ticket options to shorten lines at festival entrances, and a faster way to order your favorite food at the festival.
"For the long lines, the cool thing is, you no longer have to wait an hour in line. You can scan a bar code and you can order online with 'Let's Halal,'" Chami says.4
Once your food is ready, founder Arman Khwaja says the "Let's Halal" app will let you know.
"Being able to help people not have to wait in all of these lines, it is going to be a big deal," Khwaja says.
And while preparing for hundreds of thousands of people won't be as easy, what will be for Chami is giving back to those who need it most this Ramadan.
"Everyone is welcome. You don't have to be Muslim to be here. It's a place to celebrate our faith together, to build bridges in our communities and all are welcome," Chami says.
The festival is scheduled to kick off Friday, March 24 outside Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn and will run every weekend from 10:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. during the month of Ramadan.
For more information or to order tickets online, visit ramadansuhoorfestival.com.