The festival has been canceled for the second year in a row due to higher liability insurance costs for festival organizers.
The three-day festival in Dearborn celebrated Arab culture and was one the largest gatherings of Arab Americans in the U.S., but it also attracted anti-Islamic protestors and Christian missionaries from around the country.
Niraj Warikoo reports for the Detroit Free Press:
Tensions at the festival broke out in 2010 when a group of Christian missionaries arrived with video cameras to record their attempts to debate Muslims. Some were arrested for disturbing the peace, though later acquitted of most charges. Their arrests drew outrage from conservatives across the U.S. Another Christian group filed a lawsuit against the city, saying the missionaries were restricted in where they could distribute their literature. In 2012, a separate group of Christians brought a pig’s head mounted on a pole with anti-Islam signs, resulting in some youth hurling bottles at them.
Warikoo reports that Dearborn was forced to pay $300,000 to the Christian missionaries arrested in 2010.
The Arab-American Chamber of Commerce says they’re still looking for ways to move forward with the festival.
