By Rick Tavel©July 29, 2013
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| Corvette Reunion will attract 600+ Corvettes from all over the country |
One of the largest automotive events in the country is
getting ready to kick off with almost a full week of pre events ranging from
daily cruises and tours, a night at a drive-in movie reminiscent of the 50’s,
to evenings of fun and partying with DJs and live music. Then on Saturday, August 17th, over
600,000 car lovers will converge on one of the largest car shows in the country
where thousands of cars will be on display in Michigan’s “vehicle city”. You may not realize we are not talking about
Detroit and the world famous Woodward
Dream Cruise, though that event runs
during the same period. We are talking
about the Back to the Bricks/Corvette
Reunion in Flint, Michigan. With
the city’s approval most of downtown Flint’s streets are closed to normal
automobile traffic to accommodate the thousands of cars on display and the
event attendees.
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| The Corvette Reunion is the largest all Corvette event in Michigan and one of the largest in the country |
This is the Corvette
Reunion’s 4th year, which officially kicks off on Friday evening
August 16, with a meet and greet and opening party at the Brick Street Bar
& Grill. The Reunion takes place
simultaneously with the Back to the
Bricks event and is technically an “event within an event”, utilizing Saturday’s
Back to the Bricks car show as a
platform for the Reunion’s own show, which will draw close to a thousand
Corvettes from all over the country. The
event is so large that the National
Corvette Museum located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, will also be on hand at
the show. Though the Corvette Reunion is technically its own
event, it has become one of the largest and favorite parts of the Back to the Bricks show taking up
several entire streets in the “Vehicle City’s” downtown.
The Corvette Reunion
has grown exponentially the last four years and has required significantly more
street space each year from the Back to
the Bricks committee which controls the allocation of street space for
clubs and groups that wish to park together during the event. There is no charge to display your car during
Saturday’s Back to the Bricks show. Individual show cars can be parked on a
“first come” basis on any street not assigned to a car club or large group and
as expected entrants vie for the best available spot, often lining up late
Friday night to be among the first cars allowed access early Saturday morning. However, if a large group or club wish to park
together they must contact the Back to
the Bricks committee in advance to be assigned sufficient street space,
usually a portion of one of the side streets. To be allocated space the club must guarantee enough
members cars show up to fill the assigned spots. This requires considerable advance planning by the Back
to the Bricks committee and also guarantees an adequate portion of a street
can be held for the club and at the same time insures prime spots are available
for the individual who wants to show their car.
Club membership is not a requirement to participate in the Corvette Reunion and is open to all
Corvette owners free of charge. To
display your car all that is necessary is for you to show up and use the proper
designated “Corvette only” entrance located at 5th Avenue and Martin
Luther King Boulevard. The gate opens at 6 AM.
However, this year to help offset
the rising costs, which in the past have been covered by Flint’s four Corvette
clubs and are now approaching $10,000 for the events, awards and trophies,
those Corvette owners who want their cars to be eligible for competitive
judging and awards there will be charged a $20 fee. However, it’s totally free to
be a part of the Reunion and enjoy showing off your car with almost a thousand
other Corvette lovers.
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| Corvette Reunion takes up most of MLK Boulevard and several side streets |
The Corvette Reunion
has become the largest Corvette event in the state over the last four years
under the leadership of Gary Drago, owner of Drago Corvettes, a well respected Corvette service and accessory business
and Anthony Bowling, president of Trend Settas Corvette Club. As early as 2006 Drago, not affiliated with
any one club at the time and owner of a business that serviced all of the clubs,
made an effort to get the Flint clubs to band together for the Back to the
Bricks event and show all Corvettes, regardless of club affiliation, as one
group. Initially his proposal met with skepticism
and resistance, mainly a result of club “politics” and the fear of compromising
an individual club’s identity and also a result of the space he had been
allocated from the “Bricks” committee was in some club’s opinion far from
“prime”. But each year Gary gained more
and more support from members of the various Flint clubs who could see the benefits
of his proposal. Then Anthony Bowling, President
of Trend Settas Corvette Club, supported the idea of having all Corvettes
parked together. Bowling’s plan was to
create a Corvette event within the “Back to the Bricks” show and call it “Bring
the Vettes back home,” in honor of the birthplace of the Corvette. Bowling’s idea apparently resonated with the
other Corvette clubs and appeared to be the spark necessary to support Drago’s
idea of parking together band together for the event and fours ago the Corvette
Reunion was officially organized. Drago became the Reunion’s chairperson with
members from all four Flint clubs on the Reunion committee.
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| Corvettes On Woodward - Getting ready to start the ten mile cruise down Woodward Avenue |
Drago predicts that 2013 will top 700 Corvettes and if the
weather holds may be light, especially if Larry Courtney and a large number
from his Corvettes on Woodward event decide
to join in. Seventy miles south of Flint
in the suburbs of Detroit, like last year Larry will be organizing Corvettes on Woodward which attracts
five hundred Corvettes and is one of the most important and exciting “all
Corvette” events in the country. Larry
Courtney is a well known and respected Corvette enthusiast and organizer of
several Corvette shows and events. He is
the Michigan captain of the NCM 2014 National Corvette Caravan. Corvettes on Woodward benefits the Open Hands
Food Pantry and kicks off on Wednesday, August 14, with a tour of GM’s Heritage
Center followed by a meet and greet at the Radisson Hotel in Bloomfield Hills. Then at 7 PM over 500 Corvettes from as far
away as Sweden will exit the hotel parking lot and begin their almost ten mile
caravan down legendary Woodward Avenue to the Open Hands Food Bank. The cost to join in is to own a Corvette and
donate some food or money to the food bank.
The next day you can tour the exciting Lingenfelter Collection in
Brighton, Michigan, and then in the evening get together at Hooters in Troy,
Michigan. Friday is filled with a tour
of Katech Performance in Clinton, Michigan and requires advance reservations.
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| Corvette Coral at Corvettes on Woodward |
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