I had the privilege of joining the First 313 Tour on March 13, thanks to an invite from a community…read morefriend. We began at the historic Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit, where a lineup of impactful speakers shared insights on their organizations, our community, and the cemetery's rich history. The group then traveled by bus to Fort Wayne for more educational exploration. I learned so much--insights I'm still unpacking today (March 21). The narrators from City Institute, Outlier Media, and others were phenomenal, making history come alive. I look forward to supporting these organizations and joining future tours. I highly encourage everyone to invest their time in these experiences. A huge thank you to my friend for sharing the invite!

If I could give them "0" stars I would. And here is why.... to start, there were 6 of us total for…read morethis tour. That's $52/person. So here is the breakdown of what that got us. This is a long story of epic fails. - a generic meet up point on a gps map, to which when we got there, there were no signs or anyone in a blue DFX shirt standing in the open waiting for us. We had to basically talk out loud and then a guy sitting down near us wandered over and realized we were his group. He did have a dfx shirt on, but hidden underneath another long sleeve button up shirt. -No bus. See photo. It was raining, and we are expecting to be driven around. My girl ran a 10K that morning with the distinct impression she wouldn't be walking around Detroit. -We start out a block from the coney places, but for some reason were guided to the furthest away place first. To which we are walking in greektown to Pizza Papalis. The guide walks us past the place until one of our crew states we are at the end of greektown near the freeway. To which the guide replied "sorry, I was looking at my phone". Keep in mind it is drizzling and we are all hungry. -We then turn around and finally get to the first stop "Pizza Papalis" to which we are seated and basically told that it takes 45min for their signature deep dish to be cooked. So basically we figured out that this should've been the last stop. So we have to settle on a thin crust pizza which isn't their best signature food... so what's the point? Our guide ordered two larges, so basically we eat about 1, and then now have to carry full carryout boxes of pizza to the next stop. -next is the Golden Fleece, also in greektown. We walk 5 buildings down stomachs absolutely full of pizza and sit down. The waitress stated that we were early. 45 minutes early, so nothing was prepared. Which got us "looks" from the guy cutting the lamb. Which reconfirmed we were going in the wrong order. The food here was great, but our tour guide spilled an entire water on the table in front of me. There will be another section later about the guide. So we are full on pizza and only eat a few gyros and again I now have multiple FULL carryout boxes I'm carting around Detroit in the rain. -the last stop is lafayette coney island. On the way we are like, I wonder which is better american or lafayette, we shouldn't have to choose right? See pic, well our guide made us choose as we were walking. So we go to Lafayette. These coneys are good! However our guide pays then comes back to the table and says that's it, tour is complete. So we never even went to american which is literally attached next door!!! -Our guide was out of place. He was a nice person, but he literally had ZERO facts about any of the places we went to. He had a lack of awareness of where we were walking to. He had to continuously look at an email on a piece of paper to try and figure out what we were supposed to be doing. He mistakenly took us on the tour backwards. He left our group multiple times at each food place for 10 minutes at a time to go smoke cigarettes. He spilled pizza and water on our tables. He actually got up from our table at Lafayette for so long that someone else took his seat. Then he tries to sell us on DFX at the end and just leaves with his food. Are tour guides supposed to leave with multiple boxes of food that the customer pays for??? This is probably an enigma tour in comparison to everything else I've seen or read about with DFX. But my major concern is this, we were all from the Detroit surrounding areas, and I got the impression our guide thought this gave him a "lazy pass". Maybe he was hungover, maybe he wasn't the normal guide, maybe he was disgruntled because he had plans that Saturday and now had to be in rainy Detroit, who knows.... BUT If we were out of town tourists, there would be a horrible feeling of being taken advantage of that would make you never want to come back. That pisses me off as a Michigan/Metro Detroit resident of 30+ years. It was bad representation of the turnaround the city is trying to accomplish and we felt like we had gotten fleeced out of our $52 per person. Nothing was learned, nothing was gained except a bloated stomach, an indecision of which coneys are better, and some sore wet feet.

Driving tour was easy to follow, just download the directions from their website. Although it's…read morehard to navigate and tell all the passengers in my car who used to own or currently own the mansions and stuff like that. If it was warm outside we'd have gotten out of our car and walked to see more but it was too cold. There are definitely houses that are well kept and they are some that have seen better days.

How cool it was to have a volunteer event here…read more I have only been to the parade maybe once, but watched the floats many times on TV. It's quite something to be so up close and a get to be a part of the small section of the float. It's located at a warehouse, was told to wear grubby clothes and to dress warm from other colleagues that have done this event before. The entrance to the gated parking lot for the parade company is just passed the guard gate. There's a sign for the Parade company at the guard gate and the fence and gated entrance is right after the guard gate on the left. Keep an eye out for the extremely color blovkdftbuilding, that's where you'll be parking near. You enter by ringing the doorbell and the reception will let you in and guide you to the room for your team. They will soon be opening up the Saturday volunteer events for family members, and The Lake. They also suggested previous volunteers to come after hours uncertain days through the week as well to help out. The team was working on seven floats for the Thanksgiving parade this year. They will often repair and refurbish older floats to use again. I think Russ said their oldest float is from the late 90s. Russ works in the paint department. You can definitely see some very distinct characteristic floats, and heads throughout the warehouse. It's really large warehouse with big skylights that can make it very hot if it's warmer outside. Today was a perfect day inside, since it was only about 74° outside. It's really a fun event to do with your team members at a corporation or anywhere. They do provide gloves, aprons, paint brushes, and rolling pins. I think it would probably make sense to use nicer, rolling pins and paint brushes, since they get a little gunk up and messed up, which then can cause some clumps and junk as your paint. At the end of your volunteer event, the team will go through and rinse off all the rollers, paint brushes, and are asked to put back any unused paint into the main paint pale. I would definitely come again, it was my first time participating in making a section of a parade float. There are other corporations represented, most likely from my same company.

This was THE best tour I have ever taken. Our tour was with Steve. He was amazing. Our tour was…read moresupposed to last a couple hours and it was extended. We were not complaining. Every question was answered, tremendous facts were given and the entire experience was stellar. I highly recommend going and supporting them. They are also in the throws of building a new place. Help them out. They deserve it. If I ever get back to Detroit again, I would def. Go on this tour again The parking lot is difficult to find, but a call to the front desk and we were helped immediately.

This is just something everyone needs to see. Repurposing a community as an art exhibit was a…read moregenius idea. I will say when you are there taking it all in there is an eerie presence. Knowing families used to live love and play here and now it is all just left to be consumed by the earth is heartbreaking. Then you realize someone took it upon themselves to turn decay into beauty and it feels peaceful. You really just need to experience it for yourself. Anyone who visits Detroit should visit the Heidelberg Project.

I met Tyree yesterday when my wife and I stopped through the project. He welcomed us and left me…read morefeeling welcome and safe in a place much of the world has learned to fear. Detroits future is all of our futures. Thank you Tyree for taking the time...

If you only do one thing on your visit to Detroit, book a tour with Motor City Pedicabs!!! Must…read moredo!!! There's a reason Motor City Pedicabs has a 5-star rating on 121 Google reviews and on every Yelp review! We travel a lot and know when an experience is excellent or not - this was the BEST EXPERIENCE EVER! Marshall and this experience made us fall in love with Detroit. His knowledge of the city, its history, the architecture, the people and places was outstanding! It felt like traveling around with a local celebrity! People were saying hello to him and to us - so many friendly connections, numerous stories of strength and hope in the heart of the city, that we felt uplifted! Downtown Detroit and the people and business owners were so warm and welcoming that we didn't want it to end! The public art and Marshall's photos and insider knowledge made our visit absolutely enlightening and memorable. This man has a heart pure as gold and it's a joy to be in his presence. You will feel right at home and like you are local royalty traveling in his pedicab. Plus, he can tailor make an itinerary for you if you've already been places and want to see more things or if you tell him your interests. Loved, loved, loved this tour! Highly recommend 1000% as the must-do activity of your visit. (We took a good tour same day as our pedicab tour and Marshall blew us away!). Thank you Marshall! You are fantastic!

Must do this first! Mars took us to to so many places, inside and out. We learned the history of…read morethe architecture and heard the stories of the people behind buildings & neighborhoods. He loves his city, & made us feel part of it. Great recommendations for eating & shopping also. Highly recommend

Great tour of the city. The owner is very kind and knowledgeable. My group was a small party of 3…read moreso it was a more intimate experience. We saw more of the city in a few hours than we would've walking around. Not to mention riding the Segways are really fun. 10/10 recommend.

Tried out The Whole Shebang tour t get more acclimated with the city and it was great! Maureen, our…read moretour guide, was very pleasant and knowledgeable about the city of Detroit. We rode past cool murals, discovered new things about the city and took short cuts I had no clue existed. This tour is a great experience and worth the money. I highly recommend one if their tours to visitors or Detroit natives - you won't regret it

I'm not much for haunted houses but I have to say- I really enjoyed myself here. The pumpkin patch…read moreis a nice edition.

Wow this place- Eloise- we finally got to check it out. I'm glad we went for the haunted houses!!…read moreIt was amazing- they were the longest and coolest ones I've ever walked through. They utilized the hospital in most of the attraction, which made the whole experience even more creepy! I went for a private event, but it opened this weekend. I recommend everyone to go check out this historical site. So much has happened here in the past, you can feel the grounds energy as you pull into the parking lot. Looking up at those old windows, you can just feel someone or something peering from one! Go check out Eloise Asylum! The best haunted attraction in the state of Michigan!