How the Woodward Dream Cruise still drives Detroit's car culture forward

USA Today

2 days ago

Michael Lary isn't sure what the Woodward Dream Cruise will be like in 30 years, but he knows who will keep the wheels spinning.
'Loyal auto enthusiasts are going to keep it alive. Young people are going to keep the classics running,' said Lary, president of the Woodward Dream Cruise board and director of special events for Ferndale, Michigan, which he also represents on the board.
The passion that fuels someone to 'buy an old rust bucket, and say 'I can do something with this'' and then share that story with others after they pour their heart and soul into it as so many do at the Dream Cruise is impressive, Lary said.
'You don't have to be a classic car owner, you don't even have to be an enthusiast to appreciate something like that,' he said.
That ultimate expression of car culture will be on display up and down Woodward Avenue on Saturday, Aug. 16, as it has for three decades.
It's been 30 years since the first Dream Cruise, a reimagining of Woodward Avenue's cruising culture heyday in the 1950s and '60s that has grown well beyond a local celebration into an annual festival that's expected to draw more than 1 million attendees this year.
As Lary noted, it's become the largest cruising event in the world.
The Dream Cruise encompasses a 16-mile stretch of roadway through nine participating Oakland County communities just outside of Detroit, and draws gearheads, nostalgia-seekers and casual fans from far and wide. The cruise is 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, although events are planned Friday, Aug. 15, as well, including the official ribbon cutting and a meet-and-greet with Motown legend and former Detroit City Council member Martha Reeves.
It's not universally beloved — some hate the disruption, the noise and the fumes — but its continued influence is hard to deny, both as an annual rite of summer in metro Detroit and for what it brings to the region, including the $150 million in economic impact Visit Detroit projects for this year's event.
The official cruise website describes its beginning as a fundraiser to support building a soccer field in Ferndale when the late Nelson House and other volunteers 'looked to relive and recreate the nostalgic heydays of the '50s and '60s, when youth, rock'n roll and Motor City steel roamed the historic Woodward Avenue. ... That year, nearly 250,000 people participated — 10 times the number expected.'
Reports in the Free Press — part of the USA TODAY Network — ahead of that first year's event, known then as 'Remember Woodward Dream Cruise,' featured personal teen cruising recollections from the grown-up local officials coordinating a plethora of planned activities, including Elvis impersonators and an appropriate drive-in showing of 'American Graffiti.'
The reporting highlighted the nostalgia for places long gone, such as 'the drive-in restaurants where kids could meet other kids — places like the Totem Pole near 10 Mile and Ted's at Square Lake Road, where the owner charged 50 cents to enter his parking lot in a futile effort to cut the traffic,' and for the outsized reputation Woodward once enjoyed when Car & Driver called it 'the street-racing capital of the world.'
The Dream Cruise is the third Saturday in August, but classic Fords, Chevys, Dodges and plenty of other brands can be seen throughout the summer on Woodward, ramping up to the big day.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard has been involved in policing or coordinating the event for 26 of the cruise's 30 years. Before that, he was a state senator for the area.
Bouchard appreciates the significance of the cruise and understands some of the more complicated sentiments connected to it as well.
'For me, it's one of the most stressful events of the year because it's such a large area that we protect with an unknown amount of variables. But for the county, I think it's kind of a marquee event and brings people from all over the world (and) infuses a huge economic impact,' he said.
For some who live off Woodward, the disruption can be a headache even as it's an economic plus for the community at large. It's also a unique family event that allows folks to spend time together and see vehicles 'tied to our shared Motor City heritage,' Bouchard said, noting that hundreds of deputies would be patrolling the event this year.
Bouchard has his own school-age memories of Woodward Avenue, too, from meeting a prom date to eating his first fast food there. Bouchard, whose father worked for Chevrolet for 33 years, also keeps a sweet spot for classic cars. His first ride was a white 1968 Camaro with a rebuilt 427 Corvette engine that went 'very quickly up to the speed limit.'
His current classic, a red 1957 Corvette, hasn't, he reported sadly, been out of the garage so far this summer, something he'd like to change.
He predicts a long future for the Dream Cruise beyond its first 30 years.
'That emotional long-term commitment will be there, and the love of the car will be there,' he said, noting that that love gets passed on to younger generations. 'We're a car region. We're a car state. … It's what we're known for.'
For Dan Mitchell, the second year of the Dream Cruise was his initial connection to the event. He'd advocated for a different kind of fundraiser than those selling candy bars and nuts when his kids attended Shrine Catholic Schools in Royal Oak back then.
He'd seen classic cars overheating and needing a place to cool off and figured why not make some money selling food to folks on Woodward, which they did by re-creating a bit of an old carhop scene in a parking lot at 12 Mile. The next year, Lary asked him to help with a car show in Ferndale.
These days, Mitchell is the manager of the Ferndale Emergency Vehicle Show, one of the big events the Friday before the cruise. It'll feature 60 vintage firetrucks, ambulances and police cars from 1-7 p.m. at Nine Mile and Woodward on Friday, Aug. 15.
Mitchell's also a fan of classic cars, noting his two-door burgundy 1992 Buick Regal Grand Sport technically fits the definition because it's older than 25, even if it doesn't have a typical nostalgic vibe.
'I've always been into classic cars and did a lot of car restoration. I'm not alone in all that,' he said, describing cruising as a great thing to do as a spectator, getting to enjoy the cars and seeing the scrapbooks when the cruisers are parked that show off the labor of love it all represents.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: [e-mail]. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.