28th Street Metro Cruise brings out car lovers

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Fifteen years after the first 28th Street Metro Cruise drew thousands of classic cars to West Michigan, the annual event is underway this weekend with a crowd projected to be three times the size of the first one.

The first event in August 2005 drew an estimated 85,000 spectators, who lined the 28th Street from Grandville to Cascade to see 15,000 classic cars travel the 15-mile stretch.

The cruise is put on each year by the Wyoming-Kentwood Area Chamber of Commerce, and its original goal was to draw attention back to 28th Street after the opening of M-6, a new east-west freeway to the south.

In the years since then, the event has added car shows, a pinup girl contest, concerts and a variety of other attractions. The crowd this year is predicted to include at least 250,000 spectators.

This year’s cruise got into gear at 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23, and continues through Saturday evening with concerts, food trucks, contests and of course, thousands of classic and collectible cars.

Main events take place in the Rogers Plaza parking lot, 972 28th St. SW in Wyoming, where there will be 26 food vendors, 35 local vendors, concerts, souvenirs, the Miss Metro Cruise finale and nearly 400 parked collector cars.

New this year are free Metro Cruise tours, when an expert in the car world will lead walking tours down Collector Car Row, and an official cruise at 4 p.m. on Saturday, when any collector car owner participating in the event is invited to take to the road in an outside lane to create a one- to two-hour show of collector cars for spectators lining 28th Street.

Events run through 10 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday. Highlights on Saturday will include:

• 10 a.m. – Doughnut competition at the west end near Metro-Main Stage
• 10 a.m. – Metro Cruise Tours – meet at information tent. Tours also will be held at noon and 4 p.m.
• 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Dyno testing exhibit near Metro Way Food Court. Watch as motors rev up to 160 mph.
• 11:30 a.m. – Stolen Horses, country/rock band on Metro-Main Stage
• 2 p.m. – Miss Metro Cruise Finale on Metro-Main Stage
• 3:30 p.m. – La Furia del Ritmo, salsa/merengue/cumbia band on Metro-Main Stage
• 4 p.m. – Official Cruise Time
• 6:30 p.m. – Azz Izz, RB/pop/mainstream band on Metro-Main Stage