'Everybody wants to come to Ford City': Dropped on Drouillard celebrates revitalization of neighbourhood

Dropped on Drouillard Festival returns Windsor's only all-day Urban street festival has returned to Ford City. CTV Windsor's Sanjay Maru reports

Ronnie Trudell has lived in Ford City for more than 65 years and has seen the neighbourhood transform from one filled with deteriorating buildings to a place where new businesses can set up shop.

That revitalization is being celebrated during the 2022 Dropped on Drouillard festival.

"I've been around here a long time. I used to sit right there, about 30 of us, 40 years ago," said Trudell, pointing to the steps of St. John the Divine Orthodox Church.

"Things were run down a little bit. Drouillard had a bad reputation. But now, everybody wants to come to Ford City and check it out."

On Saturday, Dropped on Drouillard made its return following a two-year pandemic hiatus. According to Ford City BIA chair Shane Potvin, the neighbourhood has seen 10 new businesses enter the neighbourhood since the pandemic started in March 2020.

"These last few years have seen pretty great growth for Ford City because we had inexpensive places available. We had a lot of Downtown Windsor Farmers' Market businesses move because they wanted brick-and-mortar," said Potvin.

With the additional business owners who have set up shop in the area, the layout for this year's festival had to be changed slightly from the previous event in 2019 to create more space for people to move around.

But according to the BIA, more business owners are expected to come to Ford City in the near future.

There are currently six buildings in Ford City that are available for lease, Potvin added.

"We have all these properties where we worked with the real estate agent and property owner to put vinyl graphics in the windows so that when [visitors] walk by, they don't just see a rundown building and think there's a lot of work to do," said Potvin.

"They see these buildings are loved and they are going to have tenants soon."

There's a variety of things to see at the Dropped on Drouillard festival, including live bands, a car show, interactive art, skateboarding and plenty of local vendors selling food.

Walkerville-based visual artist Chloe Chlumecky said this was her first time showcasing her artwork at the Ford City festival.

"Ford City is growing and it has such a big art market and art audience. So it’s really special to be here specifically," she said.

The festival runs Saturday until 10 p.m.