The Woodward Dream Cruise Began With a Ferndale Handyman
The Dream Cruise is now in it’s 25th year, but it originally started out as a fundraiser idea for a local soccer field. Detroit News columnist Neal Rubin tells us about the history of the event.
![Classic cars cruise down Woodward Avenue during the Woodward Dream Cruise, August 2017.](https://wdet.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/DSC_0526-scaled-e1715366161352-2048x1154.jpg)
Classic cars cruise down Woodward Avenue during the Woodward Dream Cruise, August 2017.
![Photo via Autoweek](/media/daguerre/2017/08/18/e806a1805ca9aa1996cf.jpeg)
It’s the 25th anniversary of one of the region’s most beloved, most hated and most iconic events: The Woodward Dream Cruise.
Detroit News columnist Neal Rubin began exploring the beginnings of the Dream Cruise and discovered the Metro Detroiters who unexpectedly began a decades-long tradition.
“It’s kind of crazy,” Rubin says. “Now there’s a million and a half people on Woodward [but] it started with a guy.”
“One of the things that differentiates this from other cars shows is you can be in the middle of it . You don’t have to be a have-not sitting on the curb watching the haves drive around.” – Neal Rubin, columnist
His name was Nelson House, a Ferndale handyman created the idea as a fundraiser for a local soccer field. After getting support from the community and local municipalities, the first Dream Cruise brought a quarter of a million people to Woodward Avenue that fateful Saturday in August 1995.