PHOTOS: 2019 Marche du Nain Rouge in Detroit

Parade returns for 10th year

The Nain Rouge watches crowds that want him out of Detroit during the 2019 Marche du Nain Rouge. (Photo: Amber Ainsworth/WDIV)

DETROIT – Crowds took to the streets of Detroit on Sunday to ward off the Nain Rouge, a legendary creature of misfortune.

The Nain Rouge is said to bring bad luck to the city. The mythical red dwarf's origins date back to the city's early days.

Recommended Videos



In 1701, Detroit founder Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac met a fortune-teller who warned him to beware of the Nain Rouge, the red dwarf who appeared to Cadillac in a dream. She warned Cadillac that the little imp is the embodiment of his ambition, anger, pride and envy -- everything that held him back. The Nain Rouge, she told him, is the harbinger of doom. 

Cadillac died penniless after he left Detroit for France. The city had better luck, and it endured and prospered, despite the Nain Rouge.

Each spring, Detroiters push against that same dark fiend.

The evil spirit was run out of Detroit during the 10th annual Marche du Nain Rouge, a parade of costumes, flames and smoke bombs meant to rid the city of the Nain's shenanigans for another year. Others counterprotested the banishment of the Nain Rouge.