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Update: As we know, the Woodward Dream Cruise was set to take place this weekend, but all events related to the biggest one-day car show in the world have been cancelled. However, if you've driven M1 in the past month or so, the classics, hot rods and exotics have been out in full force. The M1 Concourse's Woodward Dream Show, a last ditch attempt at some sort of convening, has also been cancelled as of last week.
As we say below, we expect the traffic jam to be thick on Saturday, just like it always is. If you decide to get out of your car and patronize some of the local business, please do--that's one of their biggest complaints of the weekend--but please wear a mask. And look for me in a '63 Pontiac StarChief, or recently acquired 1989 Merecedes-Benz 560SEL.
Not a pandemic, nor a quarantine, nor a lockdown, nor cities NOT participating in street events will stop the Woodward Dream Cruise from happening Aug. 15 on Michigan’s most cruisable road. It simply can’t be done.
The 2020 edition of the biggest annual one-day car show/cruise in the world was in doubt a few weeks ago when organizers sent letters to nine municipalities bordering famed Woodward Avenue to figure out where they were on the subject. Birmingham’s leaders voted no, 7-0; Huntington Woods voted no, 5-0; Ferndale voted no. Berkley is not planning to pass the resolution, according to the Detroit Free Press, but the city did say it won’t hold any in-person activities.
That means no Mustang Alley, no cruise-in concerts, no official car shows and no Roadkill Nights in Pontiac.
Birmingham held a virtual meeting about the event before the vote, including a public comment portion, where resident David Bloom said what most of us were thinking.
"We have a car culture here. You can’t go to a movie theater, you can’t go bowling, you can’t go to a bar or restaurant, you can’t go to a baseball game,” he said.
It’s going to be tough stopping a 30,000-vehicle strong mass from using a public street. The cities won’t be giving out parking permits or allowing folks to congregate. However, they also won’t be giving out tickets just for cruising either. Speeding, burning tires ... that’s still illegal.
Woodward Avenue, officially M-1, is one of the main north/south drags in metro Detroit, and when the first robin appears and eats its first worm sometime in March, the cars start coming. And they don’t stop coming until well into September. On any weekend night— sometimes weekday nights, too—you’ll see all manner of modern hot rods, classic muscle, exotics and antiques cruising the strip, along with full parking lots of Japanese and German vehicles, usually surrounded by young drivers wearing cool sneakers and flat-brimmed hats.
We assume the police are going to stop that sort of activity, the assembling. And there will be no roadside tents, no stages and no merchandise. But they can’t stop people from cruising legally on Saturday, Aug. 15, or any other day for that matter. We'll see you out there ... just stay in your car, please.
