The 28th Street Metro Cruise, commonly known as the Metro Cruise, is an annual

auto show An auto show, also known as a motor show or car show, is a public exhibition of current automobile models, debuts, concept cars, or out-of-production classics. It is attended by automotive industry representatives, dealers, auto journalists a ...

and car cruise event held on 28th Street in

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

and Kentwood,

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

, typically occurring one week after the

Woodward Dream Cruise The Woodward Dream Cruise event is an automotive enthusiast event held annually on the third Saturday of August in Metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, along Woodward Avenue, a major thoroughfare built in the early 20th century. The WDC Event spans mu ...

. Participants often cruise in their vehicles down 28th Street, driving between Grandville and Cascade Township and participating in events occurring in the corridor.

Background

Cruising down 28th Street near

Rogers Plaza Rogers Plaza is an enclosed shopping mall in Wyoming, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Opened in 1961, it was the first shopping mall in Western Michigan and the first enclosed one in the state of Michigan. The center features Planet F ...

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. In 1999 when Rivertown Crossings Mall opened in Grandville near the southwest border of Wyoming, many commercial tenants left the 28th Street corridor. 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.

History

The first Metro Cruise in 2005 experienced 85,000 visitors and 15,000 vehicles participating in one day. 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 Funny Car is a type of drag racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized drag racing. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bodies over a custom-fabricated chassis, giving them an appea ...

crashed into a crowd during a burnout. In 2015, a locally-restored

GM Futurliner The GM Futurliners were a group of custom vehicles, styled in the 1940s by Harley Earl for General Motors, and integral to the company's Parade of Progress—a North American traveling exhibition promoting future cars and technologies. Having ear ...

participated in the cruise and was added to the National Historic Vehicle Register. By 2019, between 250,000 and 275,000 people visited the Metro Cruise. In 2020, the Metro Cruise was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the Uni ...

. The cruise would return the following year in 2021, producing an estimated $7 million for the local economy that week.

Events

The main event sites for the Metro Cruise are two

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

and

Woodland Mall Woodland Mall is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall located in Kentwood, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids. It comprises over 100 tenants in of retail space, with three anchor stores (Macy's, JCPenney, and Von Maur), along with Barnes ...

. The majority of events are free and include classic automobile shows, concerts,

dynamometer A dynamometer or "dyno" for short, is a device for simultaneously measuring the torque and rotational speed (RPM) of an engine, motor or other rotating prime mover so that its instantaneous power may be calculated, and usually displayed by the ...

testing, food concessions and the Miss Metro Cruise

pin-up girl A pin-up model (known as a pin-up girl for a female and less commonly male pin-up for a male) is a model whose mass-produced pictures see widespread appeal as part of popular culture. Pin-up models were variously glamour models, fashion models ...

contest.

References

{{reflist Auto shows in the United States Automotive events Michigan culture Grand Rapids, Michigan Recurring events established in 2005 2005 establishments in Michigan Tourist attractions in Kent County, Michigan

Background

History

Events

See also

References