Detroit businesses on NFL Draft, impact: 'We know how to take care of visitors'

Detroit — Energy from the NFL Draft spilled beyond downtown Friday, working its way up Woodward to other neighborhoods and communities where business owners and managers said they were finally seeing some of the action.

Inside Nemo’s in Corktown on Friday afternoon, patrons slugged beers while munching on fried foods before hoping on a free shuttle to head to festivities. Most were Lions fans, with a few Cleveland Browns fans and Kansas City ones mixed in between.

“The energy has been so fun,” Tara Garrity, a manager at Nemo's, said Friday afternoon.

Area businesses set up six tents and have shuttles operating throughout the day to bring draft attendees to and from downtown. On Friday afternoon, draft-goers were either hopping a shuttle downtown or walking.

“Every little neighborhood is coming together” for the event, Garrity said.

Garrity, a native Detroiter, watched "The Today Show" Friday and “they couldn’t say enough good things about us,” she said.

“It's so nice to not be the murder capital around the world … just to be like ‘wow, people are having a great time, the city is shining. It looks so beautiful, especially the river,” she said.

At McShane's Irish Pub, meanwhile, owner Bob Roberts, head of the Corktown Business Association, wanted to make sure the city’s oldest neighborhood received some of the business from the draft, so the association is offering a free shuttle service, propped up tents for patrons and set up an artisan market.

“The downtown business district got a lot of the attention and majority of the business, but we wanted to make sure that Corktown was represented,” he said. “We're extremely diverse in small business.“

Business was a little slow Thursday but picked up in the afternoon, Roberts said.

“Once we got crankin,’ boy, we cranked, and today, has been extremely, extremely steady during the day,” Roberts said. “So we're really expecting to get spanked later on tonight.”

Roberts said the city, Visit Detroit and the sports commission “did a fantastic job,” but added “there could have been an earlier push to let people know about some of the alternative parking.”

But overall in Detroit: “We know how to take care of people,” he said. “We know how to take care of visitors.”

Impact of road closures

Road closures were affecting some businesses, though.

Sagar Patel, manager of Lefty's Cheesesteak on West Adams in downtown Detroit, said Friday had been better than Thursday in terms of business. He expected it would be even better, but he thought the food trucks were keeping people from checking out stationary restaurants."Today's problem is with DoorDash," he said. Adams is right outside the zone of closed streets, and drivers are having a hard time getting to him. "I'm making the food and calling everyone, but they're canceling."

Long line at American Coney Island

At American Coney Island downtown, a destination for many tourists, customers lined up out the door, waiting to get in Friday afternoon.

Landin Lindenbuch, 18, of Blanchard near Mount Pleasant in central Michigan, came to downtown for the draft and a Tigers game Friday, and got a taste of his first Coney dog from American Coney Island.

“They said that you had to try it,” he said.

He liked the dog but next time will get onions.

As for Detroit, he said: “It’s actually way nicer than I thought it was gonna be.”

American Coney Island owner Grace Keros said the reason the draft shined is because of law enforcement’s work.

“Everybody should be so proud of the job law enforcement did,” she said. “And when I say law enforcement, it was a combined effort. I've never seen anything like, and they are the reason this city shined the way it did yesterday, last night and so far so good today.”

Business has been “great,” at the popular Coney stop but when asked how many Coneys they’ve made Keros said: “Not enough.”