[PICS] The 2016 Corvettes on Woodward Charity Food Drive

Aug 22, 2016

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[PICS] The 2016 Corvettes on Woodward Charity Food Drive

Each Wednesday prior to the Woodward Dream Cruise hundreds of Corvette owners gather to help support a local southeast Michigan food bank. The event began several years ago and has since expanded into a 3-day marathon of Corvette fun. Satellite events now include tours of the GM Heritage Collection, the Lingenfelter Collection, Katech Engineering, and even Pratt and Miller.

The marquee event each year is still the Wednesday night cruise down iconic Woodward Avenue. That cruise has slowly grown from 75 cars the first year to 500 or more in recent years. All proceeds from the event go to the Open Hands Food Pantry in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Save for a passing mid-afternoon rain shower, near perfect weather conditions provided for a great day for the 2016 edition of the event at its new home, the all new M1 Concourse automotive playground in Pontiac, Michigan. The M1 Concourse lies right on Woodward Avenue about 3 miles north of the old Kingsley Inn location and allows room for up to 1,000 Corvettes. While attendance wasn’t that high, we estimate that somewhere around 550-600 Corvettes did show up over the course of the day.

Thanks to all of the available real estate, Corvettes on Woodward assembled a red, white, and blue all-Corvette American Flag display right in the middle of the skid pad. Old Glory was then surrounded by other Corvettes as they streamed in throughout the afternoon and evening.

Elsewhere across the sprawling M1 Concourse were displays by Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, Corvette Central, Nowicki Autosport, and Aresco Lifts. A spacious tent provided needed shade whenever the sun was out and the Corvette Generations display showed Corvette’s evolution over its first 63 years in production. Corvette Product Manager, Harlan Charles, brought a few 2017 Grand Sports to show off as well.

Cars began to assemble around noon and started to stage for departure around 6pm. Then, just about 7pm, the group slowly exited M1 Concourse after a ½ lap around their Champion Motor Speedway. From there it was a short trip north around The Loop at Woodward Avenue’s north end and back southward to the Open Hands Food Pantry.

Once again the Corvettes on Woodward food drive was a successful event. As usual organizer Larry Courtney his cast of volunteers put together a first class event. The move to the M1 concourse provided a significant upgrade to the event. If you’re ever planning a trip to the Motor City for the Woodward Dream Cruise, be sure to arrive a few days early to participate in all of the Corvettes on Woodward activities. You won’t be disappointed.

If you’d like to help support the Open Hands Food Pantry you can visit their website to see what they need most. Meanwhile enjoy our gallery from the 2016 Corvettes on Woodward event below.