Canceled Bangladeshi festival is back on after Warren Mayor Fouts changes mind

Warren Mayor Jim Fouts has had a change of heart about a Bangladeshi festival that organizers say was canceled because the city insisted it was too “ethnic.”

Fouts tells Metro Times that the Bangladeshi American Festival is back on and will take place from July 22-23 at Warren City Square.

The decision follows public outrage after the Bangladeshi Association of Michigan (BAM) said that Warren Parks and Recreation Director Dino Turcato told the organization that it could not hold an “ethnic” festival at the public space.

BAM confirmed on Saturday that it plans to hold the festival as originally planned.

“We are pleased that the Bangladeshi community will celebrate their heritage in the City of Warren, despite the City of Warren’s Mayor’s office and Park and Recreation offices attempting to block ethnic groups like the Bangladeshi Association of Michigan (BAM) from hosting a public festival,” the group said in a statement. “This is a victory for people of all backgrounds and heritage.”

Fouts denied that ethnicity was a factor in the cancellation and said two competing groups with the same name had booked a festival for the same dates. He initially said the other Bangladeshi Association of Michigan would be given the space unless both groups agreed to hold their festivals at the same time and location.

But after the first group threatened to sue Warren, Fouts agreed to let the event go on. The group had already signed a rental agreement with the city and paid a $1,000 deposit to hold the festival.

Metro Times has been unable to reach the other Bangladeshi Association of Michigan, which Fouts says will hold a festival at a yet-to-be determined date.

“I am going to change my point of view, so we’re going to have two festivals,” Fouts says.

This was the second year in a row that Warren canceled the Bangladeshi American Festival. Last year, BAM says, the city canceled the festival after the mayor’s office received several phone calls from people complaining about the festival. BAM secretary Sumon Kobir says the mayor also accused the group of working with Patrick Green, who is running for mayor of Warren this year.   The festival’s cancellation prompted the Warren City Council last week to begin drafting an anti-discrimination ordinance. The council also demanded that the Fouts administration meet with BAM to put the festival back on.

Fouts says he’s received threats after Metro Times reported on the city canceling the festival earlier this week. One man called him a Nazi, and another said he was “going to grind me up in a garbage disposal,” Fouts says.

“I’m a good person. I’m not a monster,” Fouts says.

People from Bangladesh are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the U.S. About 1.6% of Warren’s population’s population is Bangladeshi, or about 2,600 people, making Michigan’s third-largest city one of the biggest Bangladeshi enclaves in the country.  Coming soon: Metro Times Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting Detroit stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.

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