City of Berkley, After Cancelling Woodward Dream Cruise, Looks to 2021
The annual Woodward Cream Cruise drives crowds to cities along the major corridor. But this year Berkley’s City Manager says they’ll be focused on managing attendance to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Even though Michigan is looking to reopen it’s economy, cities across the metro area are still dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There are two things that classic cars are great for, speed and being viewed. Wherever they go the crowd will follow because that’s what we do as Detroiters.” — Matt Baumgarten, City of Berkley
One high profile example of this is ongoing consternation over the Woodward Dream Cruise, an annual automotive event along the Woodward corridor that draws people from across the country.
Berkley city officials have cancelled all summer events, including the Dream Cruise.
Click on the player above to hear Berkley City Manager Matt Baumgarten on why the Dream Cruise won’t be happening this year.
“There’s no viable way to move forward that could honor guidelines from the Oakland County Health Department, the CDC,” says Matt Baumgarten, City Manager for Berkley. “There’s just no way of distancing people.”
Baumgarten says declining numbers of coronavirus cases led officials from across corridor to decide the cruise wasn’t worth upending the progress.
He says the city still expect some crowds for the “unofficial” cruises.
“There are two things that classic cars are great for, speed and being viewed,” Baumgarten says. “Wherever they go the crowd will follow because that’s what we do as Detroiters.”
He says police will be present to break up crowds, part of usual enforcement to keep people off private property and distanced appropriately.
The Cruise isn’t the only event Baumgarten says the city will be missing out on.
“We usually have a county Oakland Irish Festival in September and October,” Baumgarten says. “So, I’m looking forward to getting out and being around people seeing our residents again.”
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