Detroit's spirit soars as Super Bowl kicks off

Big game turns out to be a magic time for a city that's craved one for years.

Joel Kurth and Catherine Jun / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Call it a beginning, a rebirth or a onetime flash, but crowds streaming into an often empty downtown for Super Bowl XL called it something else: A magic time for a city that's craved one for years.

Hundreds of thousands of people toted umbrellas as they partied amid a wintry slush Saturday. After a week in the international spotlight, many admitted they were surprised the city could come so far, so fast. "It's like a real city!" said Jennifer Vandenberg, 24, of Howell, who pulled a winter hat over her head and walked past souvenir shops dotting Woodward Avenue. "There's actually traffic. Everyone is actually walking around -- on a Saturday. It doesn't look the same."

Despite a fatal shooting early Saturday, a late-developing winter storm and shuttle bus delays, the feelings were echoed many times over by racially and geographically diverse crowds who attended the Motown Winter Blast, NFL Experience and newly opened taverns, restaurants and gift stores.

Some of the nearly 1 million who flocked downtown since Thursday discovered Detroit for the first time. They saw a city with some new buildings and a spark of promise, although empty hulks remained as well. City-dwellers saw a downtown that has rarely been so alive. Suburbanites reconnected with a city some had forgotten or given up for dead.

"My grandmother always talked about what a big deal it was to come down to Detroit," said Vandenberg's boyfriend, Jeff Anderson, 26, of Howell, who planned to attend a Kid Rock concert Saturday night.

"I always wanted, just once, to have the city be like the way it was in her day. This is the closest it's ever been in my life."

Some visitors expressed safety worries after a 1:30 a.m. Saturday shooting outside a bar in the Motown Winter Blast area left a 24-year-old Detroit woman dead. It was a worst fear of image-conscious Detroit leaders such as Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings.

Others coming downtown were frustrated by waits of as much as one hour for shuttles from suburban shopping centers; waits of 30 minutes at the People Mover; and festival attractions -- including a 200-foot slow slide and dog-sled races -- that were delayed or modified because of the weather.

If anything, the waits may have reinforced the region's thirst for the event.

As the rain turned to snow, the crowds kept coming. They backed up freeways heading toward a 14-block downtown brimming with life. They ate carnival food, rode in Model Ts, sang karaoke, threw footballs in festival booths, slurped beer, bought souvenirs and searched for celebrities.

Bigger single-day crowds have been downtown as recently as 2004, when an estimated 1 million lined streets to celebrate the Detroit Pistons' NBA Championship, or even the annual riverfront fireworks display. Unlike those one-stop shopping events, though, people this weekend lingered. They hung out. They shopped. They partied.

In a word: "surreal," said Nicole Barlow, 30, of Taylor. "It's just been oceans of people. It's exciting."

Anderson went to Detroit on Friday afternoon to throw a few footballs at the NFL Experience. A few hours ultimately became nine or 10. He didn't come home until 4 a.m. There was too much to do, he said.

"Honestly, this city is almost unrecognizable," said Elston Smith, 48, an entertainment manager from Detroit's east side, as he started on a plate of ribs at a food tent.

"The people need to keep the Super Bowl in their spirits forever. We need this all the time, not just for the tourists to see."

At another tent, visitors sang karaoke to the "Star-Spangled Banner" as part of a national effort to make the national anthem more familiar. Sheryl Hurks laughed and smiled but predicted the good times would be gone with the tourists.

"One Super Bowl is not going to fix Detroit," said Hurks, 49, whose east side business, Taylor's Cleaners, closed this year after 45 years in the family. "What's going to happen when all these tents come down? In Detroit, we go to anything that's free. That's all this is."

Nearby, Tracy Gaines, 39, waited for her turn on the mic and disagreed. She said the "oh-so-good" vibe this weekend has already helped reverse negative perceptions of the city nationwide. She said Saturday's murder was ill-timed and tragic but shouldn't hurt Detroit's image.

"People get killed everywhere, but they single us out because we have a bad reputation," she said.

Brian Tutas and his wife, Kim Woolum, sat waiting for a tour of the Renaissance Center as mobs of tourists in football jerseys angled cameras and jammed walkways.

"It's actually a beautiful city, but people have such a negative image in their heads that they refuse to look," said Woolum. "This will help people realize what Detroit has to offer."

A self-described "sports Santa," Patrick Coleman shopped for $400 worth of Super Bowl gear for 10 family members. He walked on a makeshift floor in a temporary building and would only buy gear embossed with "Detroit."

"This is a beautiful thing going on in Detroit," said Coleman, a truck driver.

"Everyone is finally learning to put down their differences, have a good time and feel the camaraderie. We're showing them what Motown is about: good people and hard workers."

Kevin Farrer couldn't really disagree, even though his job requires him to travel from city to city warning festivalgoers to repent or suffer eternal damnation.

Amid a pouring rain and blank stares from crowds Saturday, Farrer wore a sandwich board that warned "drunkards, fornicators and liars" -- among others -- "hell awaits you."

"I'm sure there are a lot of drunkards out there, but this isn't that bad," said Farrer of the Bible Believers group.

"I'm from San Francisco, where there's some real zoo-like characters who'll pierce anything. These people look pretty nice and normal. They give me hope. We may have finally found the real America."

You can reach Joel Kurth at (313) 222-2610 or jkurth@detnews.com.