After a day full of events around Flint, thousands of car owners, car enthusiasts, and Genesee County residents packed the bricks for Friday evening's 9th Annual Back To The Bricks car show.
FLINT, MI--After a day full of events around Flint, thousands of car owners, car enthusiasts, and Genesee County residents packed the bricks for Friday evening's 9th Annual Back To The Bricks car show.
A free hot dog lunch at Duke's Car Stereo on Dort Highway kicked off the day from 11 a.m. till 3 p.m., and the car show began at 6 p.m.
Audience members sang and danced along to hits by The Miracles, The Temptations, the Four Tops, and other selections from the 60s, 70s and 80s, performed by R&B quartet The Motown Experience and Flint Symphony Orchestra. The downtown concert was a continuation of Music In The Park, an annual summer concert series the Orchestra puts on with The Whiting.
All kinds of cars--classics, newer models, and everything in between--were on display along the sides of S. Saginaw Street and surrounding blocks.
Attendees were virtually shoulder to shoulder on the streets and sidewalks of S. Saginaw. Some of them admired the cars by peeking under hoods and inside of windows while speaking with the vehicle owners, and using their cell phones and cameras to take photos of the cars they saw.
Car owners sat back in lawn chairs and stood beside their cars, answering questions about their vehicles from fellow gearheads and enjoying the admiration their vehicles attracted throughout the evening.
Others were simply walking up and down the street, enjoying the weather and talking with friends.
A vendor marketplace was also set up in the flat lot, where food, car supplies, Bricks merchandise, and other items.
Flushing resident Ken Cullen brought his 2005 Mustang GT Convertible on Friday. He knows the value of car shows firsthand: he has attended Back To The Bricks for the last five years with fellow Mustang owners who he met at car shows.
"I have a group of friends, we come out here to show off the cars and have a good time," Cullen said. "The cars brought us together."
Larry Gilliam lives in Florida, but he was raised in Flint. This is his third year attending Back To The Bricks.
He didn't bring classic cars himself--his days of owning a 1964 Corvette and a 1970 Chevelle SS are behind him--but he still looks forward to the event as part of an annual reunion in the third week of August with eight friends he grew up with in Genesee County.
Gilliam said they call the reunion "Pig Weekend:" it mostly consists of hanging out to enjoy food and brews, but they make it a point to come downtown for a few hours at Back To The Bricks to enjoy time out with each other and the collection of cars downtown.
In between jokes with friends, Gilliam kept an eye out for Chevelles, Chevy IIs, and Corvettes.
"Old cars are in our blood, as far as I'm concerned," Gilliam said. "We were born and raised in Flint, and that's where it started."