MAYOR KILPATRICK TO HOST 4TH ANNUAL DAD�S DAY OUT JUNE 14

DETROIT - Thousands of fathers and their families are expected to attend the 4th Annual Dad�s Day Out celebration hosted by Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick on Saturday, June 14 from 1-5 p.m. on Belle Isle at Shed #8.

�Our community is full of dynamic fathers who work hard each day to provide for their families,� said Mayor Kilpatrick. �We host this event every year for them; and each year the attendance number grows.�

Last year more than 2,500 men and their families came to Belle Isle for Dad�s Day Out. During the four hour celebration of fatherhood there will be food and refreshments, games for children, guest speakers, and entertainment. This year�s theme is �Dads for Dads.�

Dad�s Day Out is a free event, but those planning to attend are asked to RSVP by calling 313-224-4415.

Dad�s Club Inc and Cornerstone School-Dad�s Club are partnering with Mayor Kilpatrick�s office to host this celebration of fatherhood. Other partners include: Matrix Human Services, Think Detroit Pal, Detroit Parent Network, City Year Detroit, Goodwill Industries, Detroit Police Department Explorers. DaimlerChrysler is the Dad�s Day Out Corporate Sponsor. Other sponsors include Sherwood Foods Distributor, Vitamin Water, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Steve�s Soul Food, Lakeshore Engineering Services, Expedite/it, LLC, A&H, and the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Authority.

Sonora Smart-Dudd, the daughter of a widowed father and sister to five other siblings, envisioned Father�s Day in 1909. She invented the day in honor of how her father�s parenting was so sacrificial and compassionate for her and her siblings. Smart-Dudd initiated the first Father�s Day on June 19, 1910, the month her father was born.
President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed Father�s Day as the third Sunday in June. Later, President Woodrow Johnson proclaimed the day as an official holiday. Finally in 1972 President Richard Nixon signed a law incorporating Father�s Day in the U.S. calendar as a permanent holiday.

Smart-Dudd also designated the red rose as the official flower for Father�s Day. It is to be worn by living fathers and a white rose should be given to the children in memory of a deceased father.
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