BAY CITY, MI – Just a couple of years ago, gorgeous weather and a 600-car count during the annual “Cool City Show” held in Bay City, Michigan, had us chomping at the bit to have the Ford Performance Club Connect Transit van set up its famed Meet & Greet display at this up-and-coming event. Bay City is a town near the base of the Saginaw Bay that helps form Michigan’s “Thumb.” The setting for the show is in the heart of this timeless little city within a block of the Saginaw River. Bay City closes off its Downtown to traffic, allowing show vehicles to line both sides of the streets and show-goers to mingle at the various eateries and pubs throughout the event.

The show’s official kickoff is actually on Friday afternoon, starting with a parade through the city for all of the participating display entries. Some 400-500 vehicles of all makes and models are known to take part. When Saturday morning arrives, the show vehicles start flowing into downtown early, quickly filling the streets of this picturesque small town. Even though Bay City is in the very heart of GM territory, there are many fine Fords taking part for all to enjoy, especially Mustangs, thanks mostly to the participation of the Mustang Club of Mid-Michigan (MCMM), which usually fills a city bock with Blue Oval rides.

But that was then. For 2023, rain began early on Saturday morning, meaning that many show registrants decided to stay home, along with most day-of-show entrants and would-be attendees as well. But as a “Rain Or Shine” event, Ford Performance make a commitment and lived up to it – getting a choice location and setting up our display during a constant drizzle. A smattering of Fords and Mustangs from MCMM braved the weather to angle-park in their usual downtown location – albeit far apart along a mostly deserted show field. No sooner did we begin to hand out FP swag and free Mustang posters to those under umbrellas who visited our tent than had the skies darkened and a unforgiving rain set in that lasted all afternoon. After our display traffic had died off, we decided to join some Ford owners and club volunteers for lunch in a nice eatery for a chance to dry out over a great lunch. With no end of the rain in sight, organizers moved up the awards ceremony to just after lunch -- and lo and behold, enough Ford awards were available to have our own Ford Performance Club Connect Transit van chosen to win a show trophy! Good to see that the rain didn’t dampen the team’s sense of humor.

Spending the day looking at nice vehicles in such a quaint setting – plus spending quality time with so many die-hard Ford enthusiasts -- is the big attraction of this small-town show. The passion these enthusiasts exhibited for the Mustang and the entire Ford brand lineup – even during bad weather – was a proud moment. We’re sure that with the usual great weather for this show, it will go back to being a “Cool City” show in 2024 instead of a drenched city show like 2023. So if you find yourself in mid-Michigan in early July of next year, tell the family that you’d like to take them to a “Cool City” for a weekend of scenic walks along the Saginaw River at Bay City’s Wenonah Park – and oh . . . also to check out all the Blue Oval rides at the car show downtown. In the meantime, check out our gallery below of the wet Fords from this year’s show:

FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY JOHN M. CLOR