Matthew Hutchison / news@whmi.com

The Kiwanis Club of Brighton’s Sunday Concerts and Car Shows are getting a fresh parking spot this summer, with the popular community tradition moving to SELCRA Meijer Park.

The City of Brighton and the Kiwanis Club announced the events will be held at the park, 333 Charles H. Orndorf Drive behind Meijer in Brighton. The events had previously been held at the Brighton High School.

The summer schedule is as follows:

• August 2: Magic Bus
• August 9: Billy Mack and the Juke Joint Johnnies
• August 16: Persuasion Band
• August 23: “Allentown,” a Billy Joel tribute.

The car show will begin at 5:30pm, followed by music from 6:30 to 8:30pm.

Parking will be available at Meijer, the Brighton District Library and the Post Office, with limited handicapped parking at SELCRA Meijer Park.

“The location was selected because when the news hit the concerts were going to have to be canceled, the SELCRA park was suggested to Kiwanis Club,” said Brighton City Manager Gretchen Gomolka. “They reached out to the city and we began working on changing the use at that park to allow these events to happen.”

The city of Brighton and Kiwanis identified the new location after the loss of Brighton High School as an event site. City staff worked to expand allowable occupancy use at SELCRA Meijer Park, while Kiwanis and SELCRA coordinated with Meijer, St. Patrick Catholic School, the Brighton District Library and the Brighton Post Office to make the move possible.

In making the announcement, the city and Kiwanis clarified the recent history of the concerts and car shows after what they described as misinformation circulating on social media.

According to the joint statement, the Kiwanis Car Show had already begun to outgrow its downtown Main Street location before the city’s 2023 Streetscape Project, with the event regularly attracting between 200 and 250 vehicles, double what Main Street could accommodate. The city and Kiwanis said the downtown location also created logistical challenges because Main Street had to be closed to traffic during the event for pedestrian safety.

During the 2023 Streetscape Project, the concerts and car shows were temporarily moved to the Brighton High School parking lot because of downtown construction. Kiwanis later determined the high school location was a better fit because it offered more space, eliminated the need to close a public roadway, provided more convenient parking and allowed participants more flexibility.

The joint statement said Kiwanis has not requested a return to downtown Main Street since moving to Brighton High School and has not submitted a civic event application to host the concerts and car shows downtown at the Mill Pond. The city said it would welcome a future application should Kiwanis wish to return to Main Street.