The annual Highland Park “Michigan Week Parade” will once again move through the streets of the historic city on Saturday, May 17, 2025, beginning at 12 noon. Presented by Parker Pride Foundation in partnership with the City of Highland Park, the parade, with floats, marching bands, community groups walking or riding, and more, will begin at Hamilton Ave. and Tuxedo St, and proceed to Reggie McKenzie Field (Pitkin and Hamilton) for a fun-filled afternoon of events and activities for children, adults, and families. The festive event will end at 4:00 p.m.
“This year’s theme is ‘Building the Future, Honoring the Past,’ ” said Sydney Spight, founder, president, and CEO of Parker Pride Foundation. “We want you to bring the whole family out for a day of fun, food, games, community spirit, and having local pride in our city of Highland Park.”
Michigan Week was launched in May 1954 by a state of Michigan official. Its goal was – and still is – for cities to show local pride, while promoting and celebrating the wonderment of Michigan.
“We are a proud city with proud people and a proud history,” Spight said. “We were once known nationally as a ‘Model City’ and a leader in the automotive industry. While the city has experienced some tough times over the years, we want people to know that Highland Park will rise again.”
Highland Park’s many pioneering contributions to the state and nation since its incorporation as a city in 1918, include the small municipality being the birthplace of the assembly line that manufactured the Ford Model T (1908 – 1927). From 1925 to the mid-1990s, Highland Park was the hometown of Chrysler Corporation’s World Headquarters. The city was also once home to one of the best K-12 school systems in the state and nation. And in 1918, the city was home to the upstart Highland Park Junior College, one of the nation’s first two-year institutions of higher learning, before closing in the mid-1990s under the name Highland Park Community College. In the early 1930s, Highland Park was the birthplace of Lawrence Tech (now Lawrence Technological University), before the school moved to Southfield in the mid-1950s.
Spight said he created Parker Pride Foundation, now a 501 (c) (3), approximately 15 years ago, to remember the city’s past, while focusing on empowering Highland Park residents, communities, and schools now and in the future. Spight added through pride, purpose, and service, the Foundation facilitates a series of events to inspire, uplift, and make Highland Park a better place in all sectors of life.
Spight points out that he is not a one-person team in carrying out the vision and mission of Parker Pride Foundation and its quest to present various events, such as the annual Michigan Week Parade and the city’s Christmas in the Park.
In addition to Spight, the Parker Pride’s “A-Team” of officers includes Anita George, Bobby Lewis, Rudolph Paul, Brenda Blackwell Mims, Sonya Davenport, and Karon Wilkerson.
Sponsors of this year’s Michigan Week Parade, according to circulated flyers, include ReHab Highland Park, 8 Mile Foodland, LGC Global, State Farm, Ace Hardware, K&G Fashion Superstore, Steppin’ Out On Faith, C.W. Morris – J.W. Henry Funeral Home, Meijer, and Neal A. Mozen (DPM).
“We couldn’t do this without the many volunteers and sponsors,” Spight said. “Because of them, we at Parker Pride Foundation and the City of Highland Park are looking forward to this year’s Michigan Week Parade and the event at Reggie McKenzie Field to be a great day of fun for this community and its families. And you don’t have to be a Highland Parker to come out and celebrate Michigan Week in our city.”
For more information about Highland Park’s Michigan Week Parade and its event at Reggie McKenzie Field, contact Sydney Spight at 248.228.6369.
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