Events celebrating the auto industry won’t be far away this summer.

Autopalooza is in its sixth year, and attracted over a million people to the Windsor-Detroit region last year.

Managing Director with the MotorCities National Heritage Area Shawn Pomaville says 16 car shows and races over the course of the next few months will remind everyone how important the industry is, locally. “It’s one of those things that has come out of the dust like a phoenix, (the auto industry’s) on its way up. It’s really important to our heritage and to our sense of place for us to realize that it built us, so we’re honouring that past and it’s also going to build our future as we keep moving forward.”

A couple of the major events taking place this year include the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix and the 20th anniversary of the Woodward Dream Cruise.

Over the last couple of summers, Autopalooza had featured a Windsor 1812 river tour, which Pomaville says you can still take part in. More information can be found at motorcities.org.