The Woodward Dream Cruise is one of the biggest events in Michigan all year, with 1.2 million people attending and over 40,000 hot rods, exotics, antiques and oddities coming from near and far to one of the world's most storied roads. Yet each year businesses on the cruise route complain that the annual event actually hurts their bottom line. It isn't so much the weekend that kills profits as it is the fact that cruisers plug up Woodward for the entire week before the big cruise on Saturday.
Organizers of the big event may have helped these businesses by transforming the Woodward-centric cruise into a nine day mega-event that spans into the city of Detroit and other surrounding areas. Some of the new events includes a low-rider competition to kick off the event on August 8 to an AutoblogGreen-friendly green car show, motorcycle show, and a Model T event. Sprinkling cruise events around southeast Michigan will give traveling cruisers a better reason to turn their long cruise weekend into a week-long vacation, which will be great for the ailing Michigan economy, as well. With an event as popular as the Dream Cruise, it's a wonder that it took nearly 15 years for local business leaders to capitalize on the event in any meaningful way. We'll be sure to hit as many events as we possibly can, with plenty of pictures and videos for those of you that don't plan on heading into the mitten state.
[Source: Detroit News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
FThorn @ Apr 18th 2008 9:06AM
I thought KA banned that anti-green event?
Derek @ Apr 18th 2008 12:02PM
didn't take, the cruise went on as planned last year
jim @ Apr 18th 2008 9:17AM
Quite likely a nine day event spread over a greater geographic area will be less compelling for potential attendees who travel to Detroit to ogle the cars and for someone interested in bringing a car. How many of us have nine days to commit?
GTX141 @ Apr 18th 2008 10:46AM
Have you been to Dream Cruise? Lots of people have that time, apparently. You see the same cars all week long, so I'm willing to bet a lot of folks will participate in every event they can. Its an absolute spectacle, and it really does last a week.
TriShield @ Apr 18th 2008 11:17AM
This year will be my tenth consecutive year going to the Dream Cruise. It is literally the best car show/cruise/party you will ever attend.
Any rare or classic American car you can think of is there and generally there are numerous examples of them and everyone is having a good time, even if the weather is bad.
I highly encourage anyone who loves cars to fly or drive in and check it out. Give yourself at least 3 days to take everything in. The festivities actually start 1 week prior to the actual cruise weekend.
Guenther @ Apr 18th 2008 12:35PM
Last year it was mentioned that a thread regarding advice for first-time attendees would be useful. I'll be glad to share with those who haven't been when the time comes
Drake @ Apr 18th 2008 11:33AM
The Dream Cruise started out as a grass-roots event and has grown into an overly promoted, overly corporate sponsored, carnival. For those living in the area, the true Dream Cruise has recently been the Sunday before the official Saturday event. Yes, 6 days prior to the "official" day. On this evening, the corporate tents aren't up, the reserved parking spaces aren't blocked, and the merchandise tents peddling various t-shirts, food, drinks and the like are non-existent. Up until now, the "unofficial" Sunday event gets back to the original intent of the cruise - local guys taking their classic car out for an cruise up and down Woodward, just like the old days.
Ever since the 3rd year they held the "official" event, the Dream Cruise has slowly become such a public spectacle, that possibly 20% of the cars on this stretch of Woodward avenue would be classified as classics. Sure there are lots of old cars on the road, but would you call a 65 VW bug with a 350 Chevy sitting over the front axle, and huge racing slicks in the back a "classic". And then you get the various golf carts with 18 inch knobby tires and some sort of energy drink logo on the side taking up valuable asphalt space. The classic car admirers who attend can be classified into two categories. The respectable enthusiast who plops their lawn chair on the grass along the curb and relishes at the sight of the classic cars slowly driving by them, while the smell of non-emissionized exhaust takes them back to the day when they owned or rode in one of them. The other category are the idiots who get in their modern day SUV, or 90's model Mustang 5.0 with primer and rust accents, and obnoxiously drive along Woodward making lewd comments to the fans and taunting the guy in the beatifully restored '57 Corvette in a burn-out contest. Most of the true classics are parked on the side of the road as the owner doesn't want to drive in bumper to bumper traffic with the said idiots above in their "Down River" summer car.
Obviously, with 10+ years of this annual event, the volunteer organizers (yes, volunteers!) have been looking for a professional outfit to take over the reigns. It appears by the 9-day event mentioned in the article, someone has finally stepped up to the plate. Good for them. I just hope the Sunday "unofficial" cruise still occurs, as that is what it is all about. No sponsors, no merchants, just classic cars and the people who admire, and respect, them for their place in automotive history.
imoore @ Apr 18th 2008 4:43PM
I see a "Powered by GM" sticker on that Ford's windshield. Is this some kind of a joke? I'm not laughing.