Classic Comeback. Downers Grove car show to resume after two-year absence in Moose Lodge parking lot

Classic cars will return to Downers Grove on Friday nights this summer, but don’t expect to see the vintage vehicles and their proud owners gathered in the downtown area. Instead, the show will relocate to the parking lot of the Moose Lodge, which will organize the popular event.

The Summer Nights Classic Car Show was indefinitely postponed due to the pandemic, but Moose Lodge members reached out to the Downtown Downers Grove Management Corporation – the show’s prior organizer – about a plan to resurrect the event.

The Moose Lodge hosted three interim car shows last year. This year, it will take over the event with the support of the Downtown Management Corporation. The location will change from Curtiss and Main streets to the Moose Lodge parking lot on the opposite side of the train tracks. The Downtown Management Corporation will book the musical acts.

“For us, this was a way to continue to extended dining and to do [the Cruise Nights], too, with the Moose keeping it in a confined space to continue to allow outdoor dining,” said Erin Venezia, executive director of the Downtown Management Corporation. “Things have to change sometimes, and I’m excited for it. I’m hopeful this will be seen as a success for all parties.”

The Moose Lodge is continuing to finalize approvals for the event, but information can be found on its website, said Dave Gardner, a Moose Lodge trustee and coordinator of the event.

In previous years, the Downtown Management Corporation named a “featured car” at each week’s Cruise Nights, and those cars would park along Curtiss Street, anchoring the theme of that week. The Moose Lodge plans to bring a new concept and focus its themes on local charities, Gardner said. Charities are expected to include Hope’s Front Door, Illinois Special Olympics, Moose Heart and youth robotics groups, he said.

“We just want to get cars back out to Downers Grove,” Gardner said. “I’ve got a really excited group together that’s ready to do this.”

While the organizations are optimistic, some previous Cruise Night participants are not, former participant Jim Devitt said. In previous years, Devitt brought a rotation of three cars to Cruise Nights, including a 1953 Chevy modified to shoot flames out of its exhaust.

Devitt said he is unhappy about changes to the event and with communication from the Downtown Management Corporation in particular. After the event was postponed for a bit, Devitt reached out to the Downtown Management Corporation to figure out when it would return.

He said classic car owners believed they were getting the short end of the stick after events such as the Farmers Market and art shows returned to the downtown area, but Cruise Nights continued to be “indefinitely postponed due to COVID.” After speaking with the Downtown Management Corporation, Devitt said he was told part of the reason Cruise Nights would no longer be put on by the Downtown Management Corporation was that businesses said they weren’t making money from the event.

“If you look at towns that got rid of their car shows like Lombard or Elmhurst, their downtowns have been ghost towns since,” Devitt said. “We were spending money every week. Those people who are used to spending their Fridays at [Cruise Night], those are loyal people you’re going to lose.”

Devitt, who has a background in sales marketing and motor sports, said he offered to help local businesses come up with marketing plans to draw more people to Cruise Nights, but the Downtown Management Corporation never responded to his offer.

Venezia said a lack of business in the downtown area was not a reason the Downtown Management Corporation decided to partner with the Moose Lodge. Rather, she said, things just “fell into place.”

Space is another concern for Devitt and the group of car owners with whom he attended the show when it was located on Main Street. He said seeing the parking spots go to outdoor dining was like the “nail in the coffin.” He said the new show at the Moose Lodge lot will greatly diminish the presence of the event, cutting down on the available parking for the show cars.

In previous years, more than 100 cars could be seen filling up Curtiss and Main streets, as well as Burlington Avenue. Venezia said while cars did fill Main and Burlington, the only sponsored part of the show was the featured cars on Curtiss Street. Any cars that showed up beyond that were coming on their own as an extension of Cruise Nights.

The Moose Lodge parking lot has 70 parking spots. Gardner said he already has mentioned the possibility of expanding further east if necessary, and that further discussion will come if there is a need.

“I think it ultimately comes down to the people who run the Downtown Management Corporation don’t want the car show,” Devitt said. “The Downtown Management Corporation turned their back on me. I offered free help and they turned their back on me … because they would rather have their money.”

Venezia said she believes the modified event is a way to appease as many people as possible. Congestion during the event was a periodic issue, she said, with car owners coming as many as five hours early and taking up parking spaces. The new plan allows Downers Grove to have both outdoor dining and a Cruise Night, alleviating congestion, she said.

Devitt said the Downtown Management Corporation has said it’s been considering canceling the event for years, but that participants never heard anything about that. For the Moose Lodge, taking over the event is simply a way to be more involved in the community, organizers said. Venezia said there has not been any discussion on the length of the partnership between the two organizations.

“It brings people to the community every week, and they learn about the Moose,” Gardner said. “We’ve gotten good, expert advice about the dos and don’ts and what to expect. Cars are a reason to come out, [and] after two years of not having it, we’re just very excited to bring back cars.”