It all started in Cadillac in 2012…
The Back to the Bricks Promotional Tour stopped in Downtown Cadillac, for our first year as part of the statewide multiple day tour. The Cars came into town and displayed on Mitchell Street from 3-7pm, on Monday, June 11, 2012. For the first time in 20+ years, we closed off Mitchell Street to thru traffic, and rolled out the red carpet! We hosted over 120 classic cars from the Promotional tour and locals.
Then, in 2013 the second year on the Promotional Tour, we hosted the group from 3-7pm, on June 9 (Sunday) from Cass Street to Pine Street. This was the second time in 20 years we shut Mitchell Street down for an event and again, downtown rolled out the red carpet! Over 240 classic cars arrived, local residents, visitors and local car clubs joined the Back to the Bricks Tour for a great afternoon downtown.
So, when we heard that they where not coming north in 2014, we brainstormed and the Licensing contract was approved. We would host a ‘stand alone’ Back to the Bricks – Cruise Cadillac’ and it was such a huge success. We added a Saturday Blessing, cruise, area fun run tour, and a sock hop that pulled in over 200 classic cars. Then we shut main street down again to host over 400 Classic cars, with an amazing 5-6,000 people walking the show area throughout the day Sunday!
In 2015 and 2016 we extended the road closure north on Sunday, and added some excellent entertainment and enhancements to the Saturday events including the 1225 Pere Marquette Steam Train. Despite the rain on Sunday we had over 400 registrants for the weekend and had over 100 cars register on-site Sunday.
WOW – we had FUN! And we continue to have fun!