If someone approached you with a giant wrestling-style leather and gold belt slung over their shoulder that said “Grand Champion – Motown Mowdown” you’d be forgiven for mistaking them for some sort of amateur prize fighter or professional wrestler.
This Grand Champion belt is awarded to whichever volunteer mows the most grass on Detroit’s public playgrounds and parks in a 12-hour competition called the Motown Mowdown.
The Detroit Mower Gang—a group of volunteer grass cutters and playground repairmen—began their annual mow-a-thon on May 16th at the Hammerberg Playfield, an abandoned collection of sports fields, swing sets, and meadows on the city’s west side.
Tom Nardone of Birmingham told Detroit News “No one owns this particular park, it just fell through the cracks.”
Nardone, who started the Detroit Mower Gang in 2009, added: “We just try to keep it alive … Without a group, you couldn’t mow this park with a mower in (fewer than) a couple of days.”
A decade ago the city was close to filing for bankruptcy, and city hall announced that, of the 300 parks in Detroit, they only had funding to care for 72 of them. That year, Nardone purchased a lawn tractor on Craigslist and took it to a park on 8-Mile road. He started a Facebook Group to see if any neighbors would volunteer their time to help mow with him—and the rest is heartwarming history.