Dearborn-based nonprofit groups can boost their fundraising efforts by participating in the 2011 Dearborn Homecoming festival, which attracts about 150,000 people each year.

City officials say a limited number of food booths still remain in the festival’s Food Court.

It is a rare fundraising opportunity for groups new to Homecoming, and it is being offered by the City of Dearborn and the Dearborn Community Fund.

The 2011 festival is Aug. 5-7 at Dearborn’s Ford Field Park.

Dearborn’s Homecoming is known for its spectacular fireworks, main stage entertainment and regional performers, arts and craft show, carnival and festival food, which is sold by Dearborn charities and service clubs.

Booths in the popular Food Court are only rented to Dearborn nonprofit groups. They start at $350 for the weekend. Menus are subject to approval.

For more information, call the Department of Public Information at 313-943-2285 by June 1 to reserve your booth.

Adrian Cronauer will be the grand marshal of Dearborn’s 2011 Memorial Day Parade.

Dearborn officials Monday announced that the grand marshal of the city’s 2011 Memorial Day Parade will be Adrian Cronauer, the man best known as the high-energy DJ portrayed in the 1987 movie Good Morning Vietnam!

Cronauer is an appropriate choice for this invitation from the Dearborn Allied War Veterans Council (DAWVC) because the theme of Dearborn’s 2011 parade is the Vietnam War.

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the conflict, and the parade will also include a special tribute to the 69 men from Dearborn who died in the war.

Dearborn’s Memorial Day Parade, presented by the DAWVC with support from the City of Dearborn, begins at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, May 30 on Michigan Avenue at Greenfield with a funeral procession to honor veterans who passed away without resources for burial.

Then at about 10:30 a.m., the parade begins, and will include 90 military and community groups.

The parade is followed by a Remembrance Service, during which Cronauer will give a keynote address.

Cronauer is a former sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, but is remembered best for his major role in military radio.

He co-authored the original story that became the 1987 motion picture, Good Morning Vietnam!, and was loosely portrayed by Academy Award nominee, Robin Williams.

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