Heavy summer rain forces cancellation of ‘casual cruise’
Show was to be held in place of another cruise
First they cancelled the Clinton Township Gratiot Cruise.
Then heavy rain forced the cancellation of Sunday’s “casual cruise” car show that was designed to compensate for the cruise’s original cancellation.
“It poured all day for what would have been the annual Clinton Township Gratiot Cruise,” township Supervisor said in a Facebook post.
According to the National Weather Service, the amount of rainfall Sunday in Macomb County ranged from 1.4 inches in Sterling Heights to 2 inches in Shelby Township.
Southeast Michigan was under a flash flood warning for much of Sunday as the rain caused ponding on area roads and highways. The extra precipitation also added the soggy nature of lakefront properties, where high water levels have been a problem for the past two years.
More rain is possible for today. The weather service there is a 70% chance of rain until 2 p.m., with a high near 78 degrees. For tonight, more showers and a thunderstorm are in the forecast. Clinton Township officials in June announced this year’s cruise was officially cancelled due to public health concerns about the risk of more people becoming infected with COVID-19.
Hoping to still have some sort of normalcy, the cruise committee scheduled a static car show for Sunday at the McLaren Macomb building on the southeast corner of Gratiot Avenue and Metro Parkway (16 Mile Road). The event was to include food, music and show awards.
But Mother Nature wasn’t having it. After taking cover from the persistent rain, organizers decided to cancel the event about halfway through.
Now the committee plans reconvene the car show next Sunday at the same location. Anyone who was registered for the rainedout car show will automatically be in the running for next week.
The Clinton Township Gratiot Cruise is Macomb County’s largest procession of hot rods, roadsters, motorcycles, antique vehicles, pickup trucks and other wheeled contraptions that gather on Gratiot between 14 Mile Road and Wellington Crescent. That route was once home to those same sort of cars back in the 1960s and 1970s.