There’s a new look to the logo, and some new faces involved behind the scenes.

Otherwise, the third installment of Cruisin’ Downriver is set to roll down Fort Street July 6 the same as it has the past two summers, despite concerns that organizers were slamming the brakes on the popular and still-growing event.

Event organizers said the sale of Heritage Newspapers — a major sponsor and co-founder of the Cruise — as well as scheduled road construction this summer on stretches of I-75 Downriver prompted many people to think Cruisin’ Downriver 2002 might not happen.

The sale of Heritage, however, to 21st Century Newspapers Inc. hasn’t changed the sponsorship.

Nor has a plan to use Fort Street as a detour to I-75 travelers bothered the Cruise route, which runs from Southfield Road in Lincoln Park to Sibley Road in Riverview.

"Even though it’s a designated detour, you’ll also be able take Dix or Telegraph," said Edward Clemente, president of the Southern Wayne County Chamber of Commerce. "We’ll just hope that on the day of the cruise they’re not doing much construction."

This year, Heritage Newspapers and ASC Inc. are the Cruise’s major sponsors, while Ford Motor Co. and Rodgers Chevrolet in Southgate are silver sponsors. WOMC 104.3 FM, which will broadcast live from various sites along the route during the cruise, also is a sponsor.

Hoping to reaffirm to the community that this year’s cruise is scheduled as usual, organizers are looking to make its most identifiable feature — its logo — available to the public by mid-May.

T-shirts, which will sell for $15, will be available through all four cities involved in the cruise by May 18, Clemente said. Lincoln Park, Southgate, Wyandotte and Riverview are the four Downriver cities through which the cruise route runs.

"The first two (cruise logos) were kind of the same, except the cars and the colors were different," Clemente said. "This year it’s very different. We wanted to make people feel like they were getting a different shirt than last year."

The cruise will run all day July 6, but after only three years it has become far more than a one-day event.

Lincoln Park has scheduled events around the cruise that turn it into a three-day affair, beginning with a concert in the park on July 4. On July 5, the city also is planning to feature a movie in the park and a petting zoo.