This week on the Detroit Evening Report we’re reflecting on some of the stories we’ve reported on at WDET this year that show how special the people and places in our community truly are.

We also share some news about what’s happening in the community over the holidays. 

First we revisit a conversation WDET’s Hernz Laguerre Jr. had with Morgan Hutson, an artist who performs as Supercoolwicked. She spoke about her show, “Negro Spiritual” at the University of Michigan Museum of Art earlier this month.

Other headlines for Dec. 26, 2024:

• Detroit lights the 30-foot tall Kwanzaa Kinara in Campus Martius around 5 p.m. tonight, celebrating the first day and the first principal of Kwanzaa – Umoja (oo-moh-jah) or unity. The Kinara joins the 26-foot Menorah lit on Wednesday to mark the first day of Hannukah, and the 66-foot Christmas tree already on display in Campus Martius.
• Celebrate Kwanzaa at the Garden Bowl’s Kwanzaa & Kulture: Community Bowling Day from 1 to 3 p.m. on Friday. Tickets cost $35 for adults and $10 for youth, and cover two hours of bowling, soft drinks and food. 
• KAN Books will hold a free celebration of all seven principals of Kwanzaa from 3 to 7:30 -p.m. Friday evening. There will be a traditional Kwanzaa ceremony with candle lighting, live performances, music and a community marketplace.
• The Detroit Institute of Arts is open for family fun throughout the holiday break. The DIA’s Artmaking Studio is offering drop-in workshops in paper snowflake making every day through the end of the year, and visitors 6 years old and up can use museum supplies to draw in its galleries. Friday, the Detroit Film Theatre will screen “Animated Fantasy Shorts of the Silent Era at 3 p.m. The DFT continues its holiday silent film offerings with “Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood” at 3 p.m. Sunday, and with the 1924 silent film “The Last Laugh,” screened with the live score performed by Little Bang Theory at 3 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.Films are free with museum admission. General admission is always free for residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties. 

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.