¡Muy Bien! Downtown Royal Oak Bars Give Back to Community

A downtown bar presented a big check to Royal Oak Opportunity to Serve (ROOTS) at Monday night's City Commission meeting.

Andrea Makar from ROOTS accepted a check for $4,000, proceeds from a Cinco de Mayo celebration, from Josh Baker, the general manager of 526 Main/Tequila Blue.

ROOTS' mission is to encourage philanthropy, strengthen the spirit of the community and enrich the quality of life in Royal Oak.

"We are earmarking this money to seed a large event we have planned for next May for safety and park improvements," Makar said as she accepted the check.

On May 4-5, fenced off the parking lot at the corner of Sixth and Center streets and set up that included a pig roast and live music for adults and an inflatible bounce house, painting and crafts for kids. Dora the Explorer was also on hand to greet children.

"We want people to know the local restaurants do good for the city of Royal Oak," Baker said.

, he said.

"Selfishly, we wanted the event to get our name out there, but we also wanted to create an event that was family friendly and showed the diversity of Royal Oak," he said. "It was a win-win. It was an amazing event. We had no problems at all."

Deputy Police Chief Gordie Young confirmed there were no problems associated with the two-day public fiesta.

In addition to raising money for the ROOTS foundation, Baker said another $3,000 was donated to , a Royal Oak charity for children with cancer.