Encyclopedia Of Detroit
Woodward Dream Cruise
The Woodward Dream Cruise, a day-long celebration of car culture, began in 1995 as an effort by Nelson House and a handful of volunteers to raise money for a children’s soccer field in Ferndale, Michigan. Intended as a one-time event that might draw as many as 30,000 spectators, the event was a huge success, attracting 250,000.
As a tribute to the car culture of the 1950s and 1960s, the Cruise now attracts more than 1.5 million visitors from around the world. More than 40,000 muscle cars and street machines, not to mention collector and special-interest vehicles of all kinds, crowd Woodward Avenue for the cruise, making it the world’s largest one-day vintage car event, although unofficial cruising and viewing starts weeks earlier.
Held on the third Saturday of August, the 12-hour cruise celebrates the era of classic American cars though plenty of late model vehicles also take part. Although Woodward Avenue starts at the intersection of Jefferson Avenue at the Detroit River, the cruise begins north, at Eight Mile Road, taking a 16-mile loop of the suburbs along Woodward between Ferndale and Pontiac. The host communities stage free car shows, “oldies” music concerts and family events while much of Woodward is jammed as curbside crowds spectate.
The event garners extensive coverage in the local media as well as nationally, highlighting Detroit and its major export, the automobile. In recent years, automakers that used to “unofficially” test their cars along Woodward in the 1960s have used cruise events like the Dream Cruise to showcase their latest vehicles, meanwhile providing significant financial support, signaling the importance of these events and the audiences that they attract.
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