When: Sunday, March 7, 2010, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave., Dearborn MI 48126

Admission: $3.00 – Children 12 and under FREE and parking is free.

Proceeds Benefit Children’s Leukemia Foundation of Michigan

Special Events on Stage include:

11:30 a.m. – MetLife speaker: “Financial Independence and Security, for Every Stage of a Woman’s Life”

12:30 p.m. – Zumba Fitness by Elements of Exercise

1:30 p.m. – Bridal and Prom show by One Stop Wedding Shop, hair and makeup by Hair Designs North

2:30 p.m. – Fashion Show by Shining Diamond Accessories

For more information and a discount admission coupon, click HERE.

 The 2009 Arab Film Festival, at Dearborn’s Arab American National Museum on Michigan Avenue, opens Thursday Dec. 3 and runs through Dec. 5.

The AANM’s popular annual event presents short and feature-length films made by Arab American and Arab World filmmakers on topics of interest to all movie fans.

One documentary being shown at the museum is a semi-finalist for an Academy Award in the category of Best Documentary Feature. Called Garbage Dreams the film is about the tale of three boys who make their living in Cairo’s garbage trade and their confrontation with a waste conglomerate. The film is one of 15 from a field of 89 entries to be named an Academy Award semi-finalist. Five finalists from this category will be chosen on Feb. 2, 2010 for a chance to win an Academy Award on March 7.

The screening of Garbage Dreams is Dec. 5 at 8:25 p.m.

Garbage Dreams closes out the AANM’s 2009 Arab Film Festival with a screening at 8:25 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5.

The complete December 3-5 festival schedule, advance tickets and weekend passes are available online at www.arabamericanmuseum.org; tickets and passes also available at the door. All screenings take place in the 156-seat auditorium on the AANM’s lower level. The museum is located at 13624 Michigan Ave., just west of Schaefer Road, in Dearborn. Call 313-582-2266 for more information.

Free, lighted parking is available in the municipal lot behind the museum. For driving directions, click here or call the museum.

We all can use a little laughter after a day’s work.  You’ll get a good dose of smiles simply by stopping by the Fordson High School auditorium tonight at 7 p.m. for the Dearborn Rotarians Lip Sync fundraiser.

The event has the makings of a fun night with both city and school officials taking part in lip syncing their favorite song all in the name of raising money to benefit the nearly 20 scholarships that the Rotary Club awards each year to graduating seniors from private and public schools in Dearborn.

Scheduled acts include Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., Dearborn City Councilman and Rotarian George Darany, Dearborn Councilmen Bob Abraham and Mark Shooshanian (the new Beetles?), Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, Debbie Dingell, City, Dearborn Public Schools Supt. Brian Whiston and members of his cabinet (is that the Blues Brothers up there?) along with Joe Shannon of Fordson High School, Dan Blessing and Barbara McAuliff of Edsel Ford High School, Oussama Baydoun and Martha Burch of Dearborn High School, and Librarian Serge Danielson-Francois of Divine Child. Renault Arseneau, neighborhood services coordinator with the City of Dearborn, is expected to reveal his theatrical talents along with Dearborn residents Jacqui Rivait, Sharon Dulmage (we heard a Dolly Parton song from the former school board member and council candidate) and Dearborn Lawyer Morris Goodman.

“Captain” Dennis Neubacher, a Dearborn native and pilot of the WXYZ-TV’s News Chopper 7, has volunteered to emcee the fundraiser.

“We have an outstanding line-up of performers who are giving it their all to be hilariously entertaining,” said Amy Bazzy, event chair and “lip sync” performer. “Only the audience reaction will affirm whether any of us should plan to give up our day jobs and become professional entertainers.”

Tickets to attend the anticipated sell-out event are $10 each for adults and $7 for seniors and students. Tickets will be available for purchase at the Dearborn Chamber of Commerce, Massage Green, Fishers Flowers, Spectrum Signs and the law offices of Dagher Goodman Dagher in Dearborn.

For more information, please email Amy Bazzy at ajbazzy@comcast.net

Dearborn's Automotive Hall of Fame, which opened in 1997, is stuggling to keep its doors open

Dearborn’s Automotive Hall of Fame is struggling to keep its doors open because of a massive budget shortfall that severely jeopardizes its future, according to a leading automotive trade publication.

Southfield-based Ward’s Automotive reports that the Dearborn museum, which opened in 1997 next door to the Henry Ford museum, is struggling because of what is happening to  the automotive industry today. The museum gets most of its funding from auto makers and suppliers.

“We’re a microcosm of what’s happened in the industry,” said Jeffrey Leestma, president of the Automotive Hall of Fame, tells Ward’s. “As the industry goes, so we go.”

Here are some excerpts of what the Ward’s article is reporting:

“Budget reductions have become a way of life at the museum, where some staff cuts have been made and positions eliminated. There are only three paid employees, including Leestma, and a half-dozen volunteers to keep the building open seven days a week through summer and five days a week the rest of the year.

Leestma says his organization is seeking new revenue streams, such as affordable family memberships, and making the building available for private events. But the Hall of Fame can count on only a handful of those a year.

Attendance also is down. Some 20,000 people have visited the hall annually since 1997, but this year Leestma expects about 15,000.

Leestma shudders when asked if the Hall of Fame is at risk of closing its doors.

“I’m not ready to raise the white flag yet,” he says. “The Automotive Hall of Fame is worth saving. The industry is down on its luck, and everyone is feeling it. But this is a great repository of great stories and great people, and it’s worth keeping. If it were to go away, it would go away forever.”

For the complete story from Ward’s, click HERE.

One of our city’s many gems is the Players Guild of Dearborn Theatre, located at 21730 Madison in Dearborn, southwest of the intersection of Monroe and Outer Drive.

Year in and year out, The Players Guild of Dearborn delivers high quality entertainment at an affordable price. The Guild opened its 82nd season on Sept. 18 with the show “Inspecting Carol,” a farce by Daniel Sullivan and the Seattle Repertory Company.

Jeff Ostrowski, president of the Players Guild of Dearborn, dropped us a note the other day reminding us that the show will run for another weekend, Oct. 2 to Oct. 4. Like this weekend’s performance, next Friday and Saturday shows are at 8 p.m., with a 2:30 p.m. Sunday matinee.

Tickets are just $15. Student discounts of $2 (with valid I.D.) and group discounts are available. For more information, you can call the Guild ticket line at (313) 561-TKTS, or visit their web site by clicking HERE.

Here is what the show “Inspecting Carol” is about:

With their National Endowment for the Arts eligibility to be reviewed by an inspector, the Soapbox Playhouse is desperate to raise money and decides to mount yet another production of “A Christmas Carol.” An unknown, wannabe actor asks to audition for the company and is mistaken for the inspector. Desperate to stay afloat, the troupe caters to this bewildered actor, believing he is the NEA inspector. As hilarity piles upon hilarity, the theatre group finds themselves in a state of chaos, resulting in a thoroughly unprepared performance.

Dearborn’s own Brian Townsend is directing the show, with assistant direction by Mike Moseley (Allen Park). Sydnee Dombrowski (Dearborn) is the show’s producer.

A scene from 'Inspecting Carol' by The Players Guild of Dearborn. Tickets are still available for Oct. 2-4 performances.

The cast includes: Debbie Pletzer (Canton) as Zorah; Patrick Denyer (Dearborn) as Sidney; Tiffany Mullins (Westland) as Dorothy; Lindel Salow (Dearborn) as Larry; Alan Ellias (Farmington Hills) as Phil; Kenyada Davis (Detroit) as Walter; Nathan Booth (Dearborn) as Luther; Nick Graham ( Belleville) as Kevin; Margaret Winowiecki (Dearborn) as M.J.; Stan Guarnelo (Dearborn Heights) as Bart; Alex Gojkov (Redford) as Wayne; and Kori Bielaniec (Livonia) as Betty.

Mark your calendar for Sept. 15 that is when the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and Music Director Leonard Slatkin present a free concert in Dearborn at 8 p.m. in the Michael A. Guido Theater at Dearborn’s Ford Community & Performing Arts Center.

Tickets are free but reservations are required. To reserve tickets for the Sept. 15 performance, call The Center’s box office at 313.943.2354. Parking at The Center is free.

The DSO also is performing for free on Monday., Sept. 14 at 10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m. at Seligman Performing Arts Center located at 22305 W. 13 mile, Beverly Hills; Thursday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center located at 1627 W. Fort St., Detroit and Friday, Sept. 18 at 2 p.m. at the Detroit School of Arts located at 123 Selden St., right behind the Max M. Fisher Music Center, Detroit.

These concerts will culminate with a sixth free concert held at 3:00 p.m. during the DSO Open House running from 1 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Max M. Fisher Music Center on Sept. 20.

“In these difficult times, bringing music to a larger public is more important than ever,” said DSO Music Director Leonard Slatkin. “The DSO is committed to expanding its audience and it is my hope that as we reach out to different constituencies, they in turn will come to visit us as well.”

Dearborn’s Arab American National Museum (AANM) has the chance to earn up to $200,000 in matching funds on Tuesday but only if you are prepared to take action exactly at 10 a.m. Tuesday, August 18, 2009 (Eastern Standard Time).

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan’s Challenge Arts & Culture, is providing up to $1 million to match gifts to arts and cultural organizations like the AANM, one of 75 institutions eligible for this program. There is fierce competition for these funds and thousands of art supporters throughout southeast Michigan, including The Henry Ford in Dearborn, are urging their supporters to be online Tuesday to donate. 

The AANM has the opportunity to receive a 50 percent match on every contribution made online. To make a donation, use the pull-down menu to select the AANM at www.cfsem.org . The key thing here is to be online at 10 a.m. today. Gifts must be made by credit card or e-check; minimum $25, maximum $10,000 per contributor.

It is expected that this match money will be exhausted just a few hours after the challenge begins. The early-bird supporters of each institution, along with the family, friends and coworkers they recruit, will be the ones to generate the most match money.

The funds are crucial to maintain the quality of the museum’s educational and public programs.  There can be power in numbers.  The challenge begins at  www.cfsem.org.

Just two years after graduating from Dearborn High School, Sean O’Reilly, the son of Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., already is making a name for himself on the silver screen. Sean O’Reilly appears in two scenes in this trailer for an upcoming movie called “Whip It.”

The movie is about a young Texas teen, tired of being pushed into beauty pageants by her parents, who finally finds herself after joining a female roller derby team.

Directed by Drew Barrymore, Whip It is slated to be released October 9. In addition to Barrymore, the movie also stars Ellen Page, Zoe Bell, Marcia Gay Harden and Kristen Wiig,

O’Reilly can be seen, albeit briefly, in two scenes in this trailer. One where a teen is pouring water on two kids (he is far left on screen) and a second time in a restaurant scene where a group of teens are sitting in a booth (he is the second one from the right).

From the looks of the movie preview, this looks like a fun film made even more special because many of us can say we know a certain Dearborn High School graduate who appears in it. How cool is that?

Oh, yeah, and O’Reilly also is appearing in a second film called “The Irishman”. For a bit more on that film, please click HERE. We’d say quite an accomplishment just two years out of high school.

The January fire at the Sarah Jordan Boarding House . . .

If you haven’t made it over to The Henry Ford yet this summer, there is still plenty of time to take in a visit to this national gem located right here in the City of Dearborn.

If you take a walk through Greenfield Village, visitors will also notice that the Sarah Jordan Boarding House has been restored to its original condition since the building was damaged by fire in January.

Visitors will be hard-pressed to notice any changes to the circa-1870 duplex. The conservation effort has returned the 10 rooms to their original condition.

The Sarah Jordan Boarding House was home to many of Thomas A. Edison’s unmarried employees in Menlo Park, N.J. in the late 1870s and early 1880s. It was one of the earliest buildings brought to Greenfield Village.

. . . The Sarah Jordan Boarding House in August, restored to its original condition.

“As fires go, we were pretty lucky,”  Mary Fahey, chief conservator at The Henry Ford says on The Henry Ford web. The fire had been burning for only about 20 minutes when it was reported, and Dearborn firefighters arrived quickly to extinguish it.

In some areas of the home, damage was minimal and most of the furnishings inside the house survived the fire, Jeanine Miller, The Henry Ford’s curator of domestic life, says on the museum’s website. The Sarah Jordan Boarding House contains 806 artifacts. Of those, 33 have been replaced since the fire.

Now a small number of small artifacts — such as hair brushes, a doll and some linens — have been replaced. The wallpaper patterns in Sarah Jordan’s parlor on the main floor and in the north bedroom upstairs had to be changed. As for large items, a different table sits in the boarders’ parlor on the main floor, a new dresser and bed furnish the north bedroom upstairs and a different bed is in the south bedroom upstairs. The large items that replaced those damaged in the fire are all from The Henry Ford’s collection.

Below is a video that captures a portion of the restoration that took place at the house paid for by the company that did some of the work. You can view the video full screen by pressing the tab at the lower right of the video box.

For more information about The Henry Ford or to order tickets, click HERE.

Fans of Harry Potter who haven’t seen the new movie “The Half-Blood Prince” should mark their calendar for July 29. That’s when the movie magically transform into a larger-than-life experience as only Dearborn’s Henry Ford IMAX can do.

If you have never been to Dearborn’s IMAX you’re missing out on what is easily one of the most amazing movie experiences in Michigan. And it is right here in our own Dearborn backyard.  The technology behind what makes IMAX so special begins with its million dollar projector, which is about the size of Ford Focus.

It is worth the wait to see  Harry Potter, Dumbledore and Hogwarts at the Henry Ford IMAX because it simply won’t be the same anywhere else, including having the chance to experience the film’s explosive opening in IMAX 3D on Michigan’s largest IMAX screen.

You can view the movie trailer and order tickets by clicking HERE.