Category: Woodward Dream Cruise
Posted by Tom Greenwood (The Detroit News) on Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 8:48 PMWhat a ride
I'm writing shortly after 8:30 p.m. and in total amazement. With the Woodward Dream Cruise in its final hour, it seems to be getting even more crowded.
At the moment, northbound M-1 is one solid mass of cars from Interstate 696 all the way to 14 Mile. And there's a solid line of cars from about 8 1/2 mile to Nine Mile as well.
One of the nicest places to observe old school, elbow-hanging cruising is in the area of downtown Ferndale where the police have allowed spectators to sit on the broad, grassy, tree-lined median between north and southbound Woodward.
The median is jammed with friends, families and kids running around like mad. I'll bet Como's Italian Restaurant has been shuttling pizzas into the median like mad.
Here's an idea for sponsors of next year's cruise, a little blast from the past for anyone age, say, 50 and above.
The cruise route is miles long so how about putting in a few of the old Burma Shave advertisements along the road?
OK, youngsters, what is Burma Shave?
Burma-Shave was/is a shaving cream used by everyone's dad. The company had little advertising poems on signs that were spaced along highways all over America.
I barely remember them myself, but one I do recall was a series of little signs that read: "At a quiz ... Pa ain't no whiz ... But he knows how ... To keep Ma his ... Burma-Shave."
The Burma-Shave advertising signs were around for decades and there had to have been at least a million (OK, a slight exaggeration) rhymes in the ad campaign.
Hey, just a thought.
Well, another Woodward Dream Cruise is in the books. No more until next year, and you know what that means, don't you?
It's time to start advertising for Christmas.
