City Will Waive Tent Fees for Dearborn Homecoming Festival

The Dearborn City Council gave its OK to waive the fees for tents and expanded service area requests for west Dearborn businesses during the 2013 Homecoming Festival on Aug. 2-4.

On May 28, the council voted 7-0 for the waiver, granting permission to bars and restaurants to offer outdoor service or expand their current outdoor service area in order to provide entertainment throughout the weekend. Each business must pay an off-site $1,000 fee to cover the three-day weekend, or $500 for select evenings by July 19.

Businesses outside of the west downtown district can also be considered for the waiver if they are conducting business within the district for Homecoming weekend.

"This is primarily to allow our business to take advantage of the traffic generated by Homecoming," council president Tom Tafelski said.

Once the off-site vendor fee is paid, the city will waive the fees normally charged by the Community Development Department for tents.

Businesses are still subject to the city's noise ordinance throughout the festival weekend. As such, no outdoor music can be played or performed between the hours of 2 a.m. and 8 a.m.

For more information, visit http://www.cityofdearborn.org/.