Avalon Village celebrates Grand Opening all weekend

We first visited Avalon Village in May, when a fundraiser was kicked off to build a sustainable eco-village in this blighted neighborhood in Highland Park. When we first reported back in May, the plans for the project were,

"...Renovating an abandoned home that they're calling the Homework House, which will be a place of nurturing for kids to come, eat a healthy meal, get help with their school work, and to learn about food and urban survival. The house will also have activity courts built next door. The second is the Goddess Marketplace, a shipping container-based economic initiative for women where they can sell their goods and food. Landscaping will also be part of this first phase, which should be completed by September 23."

It’s September 23, and much has happened in that time. The project made their goal, received national attention for this project, and Mama Shu even appeared on the Ellen show, where Ellen gifted her a pre-fab house. This weekend is full of Grand Opening celebrations, so we stopped by to take a look at the progress.

You’ll see the Homework House is very much in the process of being renovated, including a solar roof. The ground is cleared for activity courts. And the shipping containers are also here for the Goddess Marketplace. All around the neighborhood, you can see signs in place for what’s next in the village. Here’s what we saw.

Grid View

The Grand Opening starts Friday night with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, bonfire, and concert. Saturday, they’ll be giving away school supplies to the youth. Sunday, they’ll show a movie in their new park. More details can be found here. The community is welcome to these events.

And we’ll keep you updated with their progress into the next phase.

• A Sustainable Eco-Village is Rising in Highland Park [Curbed Detroit]
• Highland Park’s Avalon Village to receive prefab house [Curbed Detroit]
• Avalon Village Grand Opening [Facebook]