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Cruisin' Downriver | |
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Type | Event |
Date | Last Saturday in June |
2023 date | June 24 |
2024 date | June 29 |
2025 date | June 28 |
2026 date | June 27 |
Frequency | annual |
Cruisin' Downriver is an unofficial annual event which takes place through several Detroit downriver communities and inspired by the Woodward Dream Cruise. People with vintage, classic, tricked-out, or otherwise interesting cars cruise through the main thoroughfare of Fort St M-85 to crowds of spectators lining Fort St. The Downriver Cruise takes place the last Saturday in June and widely promoted by the Southern Wayne County Regional Chamber of Commerce. The event was spearheaded by state Rep. Edward Clemente (D-Lincoln Park), who was the chamber president at the time, Craig Sochocki, the former mayor of Lincoln Park, Donald W. Thurlow, former News-Herald publisher and Evelyn Cairns, former News-Herald lifestyle editor. Cairns first conceived Cruisin' Downriver in 2000 after her son Glen stated the Woodward Dream Cruise was too far for him to take his Ford Model A. Ultimately, the first Downriver Cruise was held that year and attended by an estimated 200,000 people. [1]
The cruise stretches between Sibley Road in Riverview and Outer Drive in Lincoln Park and additionally passes through the cities of Southgate and Wyandotte.
An official event for most of its history, each event held since 2017 has been unofficial as a result of increasing expenses incurred and lack of profits by each of the communities along the cruise route. The 2017 and 2018 events had another factor, in the form of increased traffic along Fort Street due to a prolonged partial closure of Interstate 75, which parallels Fort Street in the Downriver area, during those two years. Although I-75 had since fully reopened by the time of the 2019 edition, the event remains unofficial, and this status has allowed the 2020 edition to continue to move forward in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wyandotte is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 25,058 at the 2020 census.
Wayne County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of 2020, the United States Census placed its population at 1,793,561, making it the 19th-most populous county in the United States. The county seat is Detroit. The county was founded in 1796 and organized in 1815. Wayne County is included in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is one of several U.S. counties named after Revolutionary War-era general Anthony Wayne.
Southgate is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, United States. The population was 30,047 at the 2020 census. Southgate was incorporated as a city on October 8, 1958, which was one of the last remaining portions of the now-defunct Ecorse Township. It is part of the Downriver collection of communities south of the city of Detroit.
Taylor is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Its population was 63,409 at the 2020 census. Taylor is the fifth most-populated city in Wayne County and the 17th most-populated city in Michigan.
Lincoln Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 38,144 at the 2010 census, down from 40,008 at the 2000 census. With a population density of 6,476.1/sq mi (2,500.4/km2) at the 2010 census, Lincoln Park is the second most-densely populated municipality in the state after Hamtramck.
Cairns is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the 2021 census, Cairns had a population of 153,181 people.
M-1, also known as Woodward Avenue, is a north–south state trunkline highway in the Metro Detroit area of the US state of Michigan. The highway, called "Detroit's Main Street", runs from Detroit north-northwesterly to Pontiac. It is one of the five principal avenues of Detroit, along with Michigan, Grand River, Gratiot, and Jefferson avenues. These streets were platted in 1805 by Judge Augustus B. Woodward, namesake to Woodward Avenue. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has listed the highway as the Automotive Heritage Trail, an All-American Road in the National Scenic Byways Program. It has also been designated a Pure Michigan Byway by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), and was also included in the MotorCities National Heritage Area designated by the US Congress in 1998.
Jefferson Avenue is a 63.71-mile-long (102.53 km) scenic road along the eastern part of the Detroit metropolitan area in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Michigan. It travels alongside Lake Erie, the Detroit River, and Lake St. Clair. This road also provides access to many recreational facilities in the area. West Jefferson Avenue is primarily commercial, while East Jefferson Avenue contains a historic residential district.
Downriver is a region of the Detroit metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most definitions of the region include 19 communities in Wayne County, south of Detroit, along the western shore of the Detroit River.
The Woodward Dream Cruise is an annual automotive enthusiast event held in the northern suburbs of Detroit. Held each year on the third Saturday in August, the Cruise runs along Woodward Avenue, a major thoroughfare in the region, from Ferndale to Pontiac.
M-85, also known as Fort Street or Fort Road for its entire length, is a state trunkline highway in the U.S. state of Michigan. The highway serves several Downriver suburbs of Detroit, as well as neighborhoods in the city itself. From its southern terminus at exit 28 on Interstate 75 (I-75) to its second interchange with exit 43 on I-75 in southwest Detroit, M-85 is part of the Lake Erie Circle Tour. In between, it serves mostly residential areas running parallel to a pair of rail lines; the highway carries between 5,000 and 43,000 vehicles per day on average. Once in the city of Detroit, Fort Street runs parallel to I-75 for several miles before they separate near the Ambassador Bridge. The northern end of M-85 is at the intersection with Griswold Street in downtown Detroit, one block away from Campus Martius Park.
Cruising is a social activity that primarily consists of driving a car. Cruising is distinguished from regular driving by the social and recreational nature of the activity, which is characterized by an impulsively random, often aimless course. A popular route is often the focus of cruising. Cruising can be an expression of the freedom of possessing a driver's license. "Cruise nights" are evenings during which cars drive slowly.
Southgate Shopping Center is a shopping center located at the southeast corner of Eureka and Trenton Roads in Southgate, Michigan. Completed by 1958, it was one of the first major strip malls in the southern Detroit suburbs until the nearby Southland Center opened in 1970. At its peak, the center housed over thirty stores.
The News-Herald is a bi-weekly newspaper serving the Downriver suburbs of Detroit. It is based in Southgate, Michigan, and owned by Digital First Media as part of its Detroit region.
US Highway 25 (US 25) was a part of the United States Numbered Highway System in the state of Michigan that ran from the Ohio state line near Toledo and ended at the tip of The Thumb in Port Austin. The general routing of this state trunkline highway took it northeasterly from the state line through Monroe and Detroit to Port Huron. Along this southern half, it followed undivided highways and ran concurrently along two freeways, Interstate 75 (I-75) and I-94. Near the foot of the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, US 25 turned north and northwesterly along the Lake Huron shoreline to Port Austin.
The Detroit metropolitan area in southeast Michigan is served by a comprehensive network of roads and highways. Three primary Interstate Highways pass through the region, along with three auxiliary Interstates, and multiple state and U.S. Highways. These are supplemented by the Mile Road System, a series of local roads spaced one mile apart on a perpendicular grid.
The Mellus Newspapers Building was a commercial building at 1661 Fort Street in Lincoln Park, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, and demolished in 2010. The building was removed from the National Register of Historic Places in 2024.
Lincoln Park Shopping Center was a shopping center located at the corner of Southfield Road and Dix Highway, mostly in Lincoln Park, Michigan, though a portion containing a former Farmer Jack supermarket and a former Wendy's restaurant lay in neighboring Allen Park. Anchored by Sears and completed by 1957, it was one of the first large-scale strip complexes in the Downriver Detroit suburbs prior to the 1970 opening of Southland Center.
The 28th Street Metro Cruise, commonly known as the Metro Cruise, is an annual auto show and car cruise event held on 28th Street in Wyoming, Grand Rapids and Kentwood, Michigan, typically occurring one week after the Woodward Dream Cruise. Participants often cruise in their vehicles down 28th Street, driving 15 miles (24 km) between Grandville and Cascade Township and participating in events occurring in the corridor.
Southgate Tower is a high-rise office building at 16333 Trenton Road in Southgate, Michigan. Since its completion, it has been the tallest building in the Downriver area of Wayne County, Michigan, as well as the tallest building between Detroit and Toledo, Ohio. A large portion of office space in the building was occupied by PNC Financial Services. Until October 18, 2013, a PNC Bank branch also operated in the building.