39th Frankenmuth Auto Fest fills Main Street with cars and crowds | Frankenmuth Motor Festival

FRANKENMUTH, Mich. (WJRT) — One of the last hurrahs of the summer for car enthusiasts packed Main Street in downtown Frankenmuth on Friday.

The 39th annual Frankenmuth Auto Fest brought together hundreds of show cars and thousands of people for a weekend of automotive fun. Some people claimed seats at 6 a.m. to watch the cars arrive.

“It wasn’t that big, and now it’s huge,” said Bob Lixey, who has been at the Frankenmuth Auto Fest for more than 15 years.

He enjoys the show because of Frankenmuth’s ease of walking.

“You have some nice cars here, just like Woodward,” Lixey said. “But it’s really nice here. You know, you can walk around and watch more stuff because it’s more together.”

He’s not the only veteran of the series. Brighton’s Jodi Farhood said it was a family tradition.

“We’re Road Runner people and we always had the car and when (dad) got his other one, we just took off,” she said. “Our whole family has cars, so we like to come and make it a family event.”

Farhood’s family settles into some of the best seats around.

“People like to do a drag race next door and you can see all the cars coming and you can hear the polka music when it comes out,” she said.

Across the street, car owner and photographer Ryan Gertner set up for some prime shots.

“I prefer to take pictures of cars when the doors are closed, the hood is up and there’s no one around, so it’s ideal for me to take them while they’re driving,” he said. declared.

All these people say they had to arrive early to claim their seats. As Lixey tells us, the series has become more popular over time.

“Most of the time you have plenty of room here, but this morning it was packed! And that was at six o’clock,” he said.

Frankenmuth Auto Fest continues all day Saturday and Sunday.