Your guide to the 2018 Dream Cruise: Date, parking, tips and more
Classic cars (and some that are not so classic) during the Woodward Dream Cruise.(Photo: Kimberly P. Mitchell/Detroit Free Press)
Love it or lambast it, the Woodward Dream Cruise is soon to roar back into Oakland County north of Detroit.
Shiny hot rods are already zooming on Woodward Avenue, beginning to lift the curtain ahead of the third Saturday in August.
Here's what you need to know to go:
What is the Dream Cruise? It's the world’s biggest one-day car event on the nation’s signature cruising highway, M-1 from Ferndale to Pontiac.
When is the Dream Cruise? Saturday, Aug. 18.
Where to park:
- Berkley: Downtown in municipal lots or on side streets adjoining Woodward. No public parking areas near Woodward, no overnight parking.
- Birmingham: Five city parking decks, first two hours free.
- Bloomfield Township: 36700 Woodward for $5.
- Ferndale: Metered city parking lots are metered surrounding downtown at Woodward and Nine Mile Road.
- Huntington Woods: Parking areas on Woodward have been leased by car clubs or reserved for city residents’ activities. No public parking near Woodward.
- Pleasant Ridge: On side streets adjoining Woodward but no public parking areas near Woodward. Overnight parking is not permitted.
- Pontiac: Downtown and surrounding areas.
- Royal Oak: At municipal parking lots in the downtown area and walking distance from Woodward.
For the best way to get there, take roadways roughly parallel to Woodward Avenue — like Coolidge, Southfield, Crooks, Greenfield and I-75. DON'T try to exit I-696 at Woodward and think you'll get anywhere quickly on Woodward.
Take a water bottle. It's always hot out there, and the lines can be long even if you have money to spend.
Wear a hat. What'd we say about the heat? Also apply sunscreen on all family members.
Go early. People always seem to enjoy watching, and cruising, early in the day. Parking, too, is immensely easier at 7 a.m. than three hours later.
Stay totally sober. That is, if you plan to drive and don't want to be arrested. The Dream Cruise is crawling with cops. And that's a good thing -- because the event has never had a serious accident or injury, not since it began as a fundraiser for a children's soccer field in 1995. Police from numerous cities will be up and down Woodward, on foot as well as astride motorcycles and inside patrol cars. If you try to imbibe in public, you'll be asked to "pour it out." No drinking is allowed outside the bounds of the cruise strip's bars and restaurants.
The exhibit, at 1411 W. Webster in Royal Oak, runs Aug. 3-Sept. 15. It’s free during usual museum hours, and $10 a ticket for the fundraising preview party at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 3 (see www.royaloakhistoricalsociety.com).
SOURCE: Detroit Free Press
AUTHOR: Bill Laitner