COLDWATER — After a buffet lunch at Broadway Grill Wednesday at noon, over 60 cars and trucks caravanned behind a police escort north on the 18th annual Old U.S. 27 Motor Tour rolling car show and cruise.
By the time the tour reaches Cheboygan on Saturday, over 300 cars, trucks, and motorbikes are expected to have joined the tour, escorted along the way by law enforcement.
Debra Prater, executive director of Coldwater Country Conference and Visitors Bureau, said the tour began in Coldwater on Monday, and participants gathered for two days from around the country.
On Wednesday night, the tour stopped in Dewitt. It's also scheduled to stop on Thursday in Clare, and Friday in Grayling before heading to Cheboygan on Saturday. In between, stops are scheduled in eight other communities.
New people join each year. Deborah Shannon, from Nashville, Tennessee, joined two years ago after she saw pictures of the tour at Cops and Donuts and Clare.
A friend from North Carolina joined her in the 2009 Nissan Z-350. After Saturday, they plan a Canadian trip.
The bureau plans events before the rolloff Wednesday after lunch. These include a poker run and scavenger hunt that attracts significant local and corporate participation with gifts and contributions for prizes.
Kilgore International on West Chicago hosted a cruise Monday night.
Tuesday night, Performance Plus Quick Oil Change saw over 100 tour and local cars spill over into Willowbrook Plaza.
Branch County business lends to car-crazy crowds.
On Tuesday nights, many head to Short's Drive Inn for curbside meals and to show off cars. Some went to Capri Drive in the past years, but because school began this week, there were no weekday movies.
Prater said, "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we try to get them into the businesses. That's the whole premise because we're a destination marketer." Based on the community's contributions, she said it works. "They're spending money when they're here."
Lansing-area resident Craig Parrish created the idea and put together the first tour in 2005. Parrish pushed the legislature to designate Old U.S. 27 in Michigan as a historic highway, which was approved in 2010,
His partner Kim Davis kept the tour going after his death in 2021 from cancer.
Prater would like the tour to reverse the tour, starting in Cheboygan and ending in Coldwater. "We could throw one heck of a party."
Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Old U.S. 27 Motor Tour brings business to Coldwater before heading north
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