By K.D. Norris
ken@wktv.org
The 15th Annual Metro Cruise, hosted by the Wyoming Kentwood Area Chamber of Commerce, is still a summer-full of fun away — the event is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Aug. 23-24 — but the wheels are already rolling toward the big event.
The chamber hosted the 6th Annual 28th Street Metro Cruise Dust Off in early May at the Moose Lodge on Burlingame Avenue SW, when the Miss Metro Cruise contest (formerly the Pin Up Girl contest) was also officially introduced. The next steps in the contest will be the preliminaries set to take place, Sunday, July 13, also at the Moose Lodge, with the finals set for Aug. 24 on the Metro Cruise Main Stage.
“The sixth annual Dust Off is our first event of the Metro Cruise car season,” Bob O’Callaghan, president/CEO of the Chamber, said to WKTV at the May event. “We have over 100 cars here. This kinds of kicks off the guys going to all the (local car) events.”
It was also the kick off of the re-engineered Miss Metro Cruise contest.
“The way the girls dress, it is more in eras, not like the old (pin-up) calendar thing you’d see in the past,” O’Callaghan said. “It is really a classy operation, so we thought we’d change the name to reflect the Metro Cruise.”
And while WKTV Journal was at the Dust Off, WKTV Community Media is deep in plans for its production of a 1-hour special live broadcast scheduled to air at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 23, on WKTV Comcast Channel 25, AT&T U-verse Channel 99, as well as being live-streamed and, later, on-demand on WKTV.org .
“Each Metro Cruise is one of our highlights in covering the hyperlocal stories of Wyoming and Kentwood,” said Tom Norton, general manager of WKTV Community Media. “The Chamber of Commerce does an outstanding job of putting on a true community event that has become a staple of summertime. We’re looking forward to our one-hour, live broadcast on Friday night from Metro Cruise.
“Tune in for all the close-ups before you come out and discover Metro Cruise 2019, ” Norton added. “We encourage residents to come to 28th Street and be part of the fun, but they can also be part of fun by viewing our live show, which will also be available in cable replays and on-demand, as well as following our complete online coverage of the event.”
The Metro Cruise is an annual event that “invites car lovers and enthusiasts to reminisce and commemorate the vehicles that have driven down 28th Street for decades,” according to supplied material. The event brings in more than $3 million in business to the 28th Street corridor over the course of two days, with more that 250,000 attendees at an event staffed solely by volunteers.
The Miss Metro Cruise contest is an contest that features women dressing in eras from the 1920s, 1960s, to modern-day in full hair, makeup, and costume. Currently there is about 30 participants, with a July 13 preliminary contest to select the top 10 finalists. Each finalist will receive personalized trading cards and a chance to be named Miss Metro Cruise 2019 with the top three finalists set to receive a cash prize.
For more information about Metro Cruise 2019, visit 28thstreetmetrocruise.com .
