Nelson House, the founder of the Woodward Dream Cruise, died Thursday at age 70.
The Woodward car show the Ferndale plumber conceived of to raise money for a children’s soccer field in 1995 grew into one of the premiere classic-car events in the United States.
Nelson House wanted to hold it in conjunction with a Woodward car dealership and thought it would be fine afterward to cruise down the street like he did when he was younger.
Then, the local oldies radio station WOMC 104.3 heard about it and mentioned it on air and instead of 250 people showing up for that first muscle-car extravaganza, 25,000 did – and attendance only grew from there.
Now in its 16th year with over a million in attendence.
photo credit: © 2010 the detroit free press
edited text credit: Bill Laitner / © 2010 the detroit free press
