Crain’s Detroit House Party

You can be part of a great Detroit event–but you have to act quickly!

Crain’s Detroit Business Ultimate House Party is a unique effort to showcase the city, its homes and its residents.

More than 30 parties will be held all in one night at homes throughout Detroit…to celebrate the city and its progress.

The sixth annual event will be held Wednesday, Sept. 28 from 5:30 – 10:00 p.m.

WXYZ-TV/Detroit 2020 is a media sponsor of the event.

Click here to buy tickets and register.

Channel 7′s Anu Prakash has a look at the event:

Volunteer hosts last year entertained more than 1,000 attendees who visited their homes for cocktail parties held simultaneously downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. Then the individual parties disband and attendees travel to an afterglow, to be held this year at the Roostertail on the Detroit River.

To offer an alternative story about Detroit, Crain’s Detroit Business created an annual guide, Living and Investing in the D, that is linked to the one-of-a-kind experience – the “Detroit House Party.”   The event and supplement were created in partnership with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, which remains the key sponsor for House Party.

“This is not a house tour,” says Crain’s Publisher Mary Kramer, who has lived in Detroit since 1989. “It’s an immersion in Detroit neighborhoods whose residents could afford to live just about anywhere in the region but choose to live in Detroit.”

Attendees can view profiles and photos of the House Party homes online at crainsdetroit.com/events and sign up to visit a specific residence. The choices this year include downtown lofts and apartments, lofts and homes in Midtown, Woodbridge, Corktown, Lafayette Park, New Center and Boston-Edison.

“We know that homes have been sold as a result of this evening,” Kramer said. “And hosts tell us they bonded with people who had been strangers till that night – and are still in touch.   Homes have been sold as a result of this evening, and business and networking relationships formed that continue well after the afterglow’s “last call.”

A number of employers have used the event to introduce new hires to the city.

This year, the Michigan Economic Development Corp., as part of its talent retention program, plans to bring soon-to-graduate college students to the party to cap a day of career-related programs in and around Detroit.

A portion of the proceeds from each year’s party is donated to local nonprofits. This year, the recipients will be Hatch Detroit that is focused on helping entrepreneurs in the City of Detroit through funding opportunities, professional services, education and training, events, and promotion, and Kiva Detroit that empowers Detroiters to champion, source, and lend to local small businesses $25 at a time through Kiva.org.

To register, purchase tickets online at www.crainsdetroit.com/events for $60.   Tickets include the House Party and afterglow with food and beverage.  Tickets sales close on September 23.