Many Saultites can remember the days when cruising along Queen Street in their vehicles through the city’s downtown was a Friday and Saturday evening tradition.
Motorists, many of them with souped up cars and trucks or riding on motorbikes, enjoyed seeing people stroll along the sidewalks as stores stayed open late and several movie theatres were in operation.
Those days are gone but the annual Queen Street Cruise has strived to bring back that good feeling for at least once a year.
“It’s the old days of cruising Queen that we want everybody to remember. Queen Street was a happening spot. That was the biggest spot in Sault Ste. Marie,” said Gary Trembinski, Queen Street Cruise co-chair and co-founder in an interview with SooToday.
The revival of the Queen Street Cruise started with the Sault’s Joseph Coccimiglio who attended Detroit’s Woodward Cruise several times over the years.
Trembinski and Joseph Bisceglia co-founded the event.
Trembinski's son, Gary Trembinski Jr., currently serves as co-chair.
The Queen Street Cruise returns for its eighth year on June 20 and 21.
Trembinski said that the Cruise, launched in 2016, has now become a rooted annual event.
“Every year it gets better and better. People from the Sault and outside the Sault tell friends who bring other friends,” he added.
Trembinski said Queen Street Cruise officials hope the number of vehicles in this year’s event will exceed the 350 seen last year.
“Based on the response we're getting so far, we're going to do very well. We’re getting emails from Thunder Bay, Timmins, Sudbury, North Bay, Espanola and Elliot Lake and we have some people coming from Toronto. We were getting some cars from the United States. I don't know how that situation's going to work out this year,” he added.
Road work on Queen Street won’t deter the Cruise from happening, Trembinski said.
Cruise vehicles will leave the Ronald A. Irwin Civic Centre on Foster Drive and proceed along St. Marys River Drive, Bay Street, Brock Street and finally Queen Street as far as Andrew Street.
The Cruise itself takes place Friday, June 20 beginning at 7 p.m.
The Queen Street Cruise Car Show will run Saturday, June 21 beginning at 10 a.m. at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion, the Civic Centre’s north parking lot and Brewery Block lot.
The event is a fundraiser, with money raised from registration fees to enter the Cruise going to the Sault Area Hospital Foundation (SAHF).
“We never had a show that was actually sustainable as a yearly event. It lasted two or three years and then would peter out for whatever reason. I was always astonished why Sault Ste. Marie did not have a cruise because I was involved with cars since I was 14 years old,” said Trembinski, who owns a 1964 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.
There was some negativity toward attempts to establish the Cruise, Trembinski said.
“Some people said ‘we don't have the population.’ But you know what? We're proving that wrong," he added.
"People had these cars in their garages and we got people motivated, we gave them a reason to take them out. It's fantastic and the response just out of Sault Ste. Marie has been great. The City has told us that we're the second largest summer festival in Sault Ste. Marie next to Rotaryfest. That's a pretty good feather in our cap after just eight years.”
As car owners from out of town arrive for the Cruise, Trembinski said that benefits local tourism.
“We’re inviting people to come and enjoy and see the Sault for what it actually is. We have so much to offer in Sault Ste. Marie, the culture and beauty. We wanted to build this event and it's working. It’s another reason for people to come to Sault Ste. Marie,” he added.
More information on the Queen Street Cruise, including how to register for the event, can be found on the event’s website.