DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroiters and people from the metropolitan area got outside Wednesday to celebrate 313 day.
The holiday is an ode to the city's 3-1-3 area code.
To celebrate, the Detroit Historical Museum partnered with Detroit vs. Everybody, showcasing upcoming designs paying homage to cultural markers throughout the city's history. The collection includes hoodies, ball caps and rugs with designs of Faygo, the former Tiger's stadium, Little Caesars pizza and more.
"Whether it’s The Fist, whether it’s the fountain in Hart Plaza, Tyree Guyton’s work on the east side, all of this is really a part of the fabric of the city," said Rebecca Salminen Witt with the Detroit Historical Society.
Salminen Witt says the city’s history stretches far beyond its 325 years.
"Detroit didn’t start when the Europeans came. Detroit had been here for years and years," Salminen Witt started. "An interesting piece of history that I just heard from one of our historians: Michigan Avenue, which we all know a love, started as an animal path before humans even frequented here. Then it was an indigenous path, then it was a colonial path, then it became paved and its a major highway."
"There’s history every single place you look from our beautiful buildings right to the streets that you walk down. Woodward Avenue is the first paved highway in the United States," she added.
On Wednesday, several businesses offered deals in celebration of 313 Day. At Detroit's famous Lafayette and American coney islands, people chose which restaurant had the best food.
Michigan First Credit Union sponsored the Coney Island Wars, distributing meal vouchers to the restaurants' patrons during the lunch hours. The catch: they had to choose which Coney they liked best between American and Lafayette in downtown Detroit.
"I'll probably get the coney with the ground beef on top of it, a lil cheese on it," said Anthony Cartwright, who picked American in the Coney Island Wars. " I think American got just a little bit more flavor in their food than Lafayette."
Anthony Fusco, who is from Wyandotte, says he's been choosing Lafayette over American for years.
"I get a dog and a bowl of chili with beans," Fusco said.
