Saturday would have been the date for the 26th Woodward Dream Cruise. The annual event along Woodward Avenue in Detroit and northern suburbs grew every year. Up to two million people and a few hundred classic cars were predicted for this year’s event.  Then the local and state government response to the COVID-19 virus kicked in, and the staging committee threw in the towel for this year. But some enterprising people with the Oakland County Republican Party stepped up and decided to stage what they called the MAGA Classic Car Cruise along the same 10 mile stretch of Woodward the original event used. Cars staged in Ferndale and cruised along to Pontiac.  Woodward Avenue starts in Downtown Detroit and is also known as M1, or Michigan Highway One. But the stretch further north of the city allows for more spectators to line the route.

They did this weekend. No official estimates are offered but a number of observers figured a couple hundred thousand lined the route.  A couple of suburban police departments placed signs along the route reminding people it was an unofficial and unsupported event. But they still came and none of the departments got in the way. A local Democratic Party group complained earlier last week that the event was the perfect way for the COVID-19 virus to be spread. They wanted it stopped. In the end, the showed up with protest signs, ignoring their own earlier complaints. There were some Trump signs and flags on some of the classic cars, but for the most part, it was a day for Metro Detroit residents to remember the glory days of Detroit when it was better known as the Motor City.

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