Hundreds of kids and their families gathered at Heilmann Recreation Center on Saturday as part of the city’s fifth “On the Clock” neighborhood event series.
The football-themed event is one of 10 touring around the city to hype up residents ahead of this spring’s NFL draft.
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Aleanna Richards, 37, of Detroit, said she saw the event on social media and excitedly told her 12-year-old daughter, Meena, about the opportunity to meet Detroit Lions cheerleaders.
“She loves cheerleading and every time her dad is watching a game she’s copying the dancers of the girls on the sidelines,” Richards said. “So we couldn’t have been more excited that this was going on right in our backyard.”
Hosted at Heilmann Recreation Center in the city’s 3rd District, the event was one of several intended to hype up the community ahead of the 2024 NFL draft, which will be hosted in Campus Martius April 25-27.
A video game truck, food trucks and a tent of football-themed activities filled the lot outside of Heilmann Recreation Center, with parking flooding into the surrounding neighborhood blocks.
Martin Shane, 55, of Detroit, said he has lived in the city’s Regent Park neighborhood his entire life and had never seen such strong community engagement.
“I decided to walk down here when I saw all the cars. … I live right up the block,” Shane said. “And, my God, I haven’t seen so many children and their parents on a weekend like this in I don’t know how long.”
Shane said he didn’t care much about the city hosting the NFL draft, but after today’s event, he’s considering making a trip downtown in April to catch the excitement.
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The next “On the Clock” event will be at the Community Center at A.B. Ford, at 100 Lenox St., on March 2. The full schedule of events can be found at visitdetroit.com.
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