28th Street Metro Cruise

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.[1][2]

28th Street Metro Cruise
GenreAuto show, cruise
BeginsAugust 23, 2024 (2024-08-23)
EndsAugust 24, 2024 (2024-08-24)
FrequencyAnnually
Venue28th Street
Location(s)Wyoming, Grand Rapids and Kentwood, Michigan
InauguratedAugust 27, 2005 (2005-08-27)
Website28thstreetmetrocruise.org

Background
External video
video icon Muscle cars cruising 28th Street and gathering at Rogers Plaza in 1992

Cruising down 28th Street near Rogers Plaza in Wyoming was a common pastime for car enthusiasts in the late 20th century when the street was the main retail corridor from the 1960s until the 1990s.[3][4] In 1999 when Rivertown Crossings Mall opened in Grandville near the southwest border of Wyoming, many commercial tenants left the 28th Street corridor.[5][6] Following the opening of the M-6 highway in late-2004, the Wyoming-Kentwood Area Chamber of Commerce planned the first Metro Cruise to be held in August 2005 in an initiative to bring business to 28th Street.[3][7]

History
A view of vehicles on 28th Street and parked at Rogers Plaza during the Metro Cruise

The first Metro Cruise in 2005 experienced 85,000 visitors and 15,000 vehicles participating in one day.[3][8] In 2007, the cruise was expanded to two days of events and the prohibition of burnouts was strictly enforced following the Selmer, Tennessee burnout tragedy, when 6 were killed and 20 injured after a funny car crashed into a crowd during a burnout.[3][8][9][10] In 2015, a locally restored GM Futurliner participated in the cruise and was added to the National Historic Vehicle Register.[11] By 2019, between 250,000 and 275,000 people visited the Metro Cruise.[8][12] In 2020, the Metro Cruise was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[12] The cruise would return the following year in 2021, producing an estimated $7 million for the local economy that week.[13]

Events

The main event sites for the Metro Cruise are two shopping malls; Rogers Plaza and Woodland Mall.[8][14] The majority of events are free and include classic automobile shows, concerts, dynamometer testing, food concessions and the Miss Metro Cruise pin-up girl contest.[14][15]

Soul Cruise

In 2022, a separately-organized Soul Cruise event began to be held annually on the Sunday following the Metro Cruise, with the cruise being located primarily within the southeast side of Grand Rapids.[16]

See also

References
  1. "West Michigan car show". Detroit Free Press. August 26, 2010. pp. E1.
  2. "Imagine a traffic backup that people enjoy". Lansing State Journal. August 30, 2009. p. 17.
  3. "History". 28th Street Metro Cruise. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  4. Teiters, Barton (August 24, 2005). "For car lovers, 28th street becomes path of dreams". Grand Rapids Press. p. A1.
  5. "Rogers Department Store". WKTV. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  6. Daly, Pete (November 15, 2010). "Wyoming to focus on look at 28th Street". The Grand Rapids Business Journal.
  7. Lewis, Norma; De Vries, Jay (2010). Wyoming. Arcadia Publishing. p. 123.
  8. McGrath, Sheila (August 23, 2019). "28th Street Metro Cruise brings out car lovers". MLive. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  9. Cammel, Ron (July 18, 2007). "Car cruises put limits on 'burnouts'; Noisy practice under fire after Tennessee tragedy". Grand Rapids Press. pp. B3.
  10. "Car show disaster kills 6, injures 20 in Selmer". Action News 5. Memphis, Tennessee: WMC-TV. June 18, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
  11. Harger, Jim (January 28, 2015). "GM Futurliner #10 basks in spotlight after induction into the National Historic Vehicle Register". MLive. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  12. "28th Street Metro Cruise canceled due to COVID-19". Walker, Michigan: WZZM-TV. June 3, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  13. "Classic car aficionados flock to 28th Street as Metro Cruise returns". Grand Rapids, Michigan: WOOD-TV. August 27, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  14. "28th Street Metro Cruise". Pure Michigan. March 16, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  15. Chance, Todd (August 22, 2015). "28th Street Metro Cruise's pin up girl contest crowns 2015 champion". MLive. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  16. "Soul Cruise brings car show to GR's inner city". WOODTV. August 27, 2023. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
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