It’s been a great start to the 21st season of a weekly Red Deer car show, says the event organizer.
Red Deer Cruise Night’s 2022 season began May 5 and is scheduled to run every Thursday until October in the Parkland Mall’s northeast parking lot, near GoodLife Fitness.
Dave Burden, Red Deer Cruise Night CEO, said the turnout has been great so far this season.
“I will admit that I’ve been very surprised with the number of new vehicles that I’ve literally never seen before at Cruise Night,” said Burden.
“We’re getting a lot of out-of-towners coming in and that’s been great. You’re seeing a much more eclectic collection of vehicles than the ones you would always see at the same shows. It’s been really nice.
“The first couple of nights there were 30 or 40 new rides that I’ve never seen before and I’ve seen a lot of rides over the 21 years we’ve been doing this. It’s been really cool to see something new and exciting.”
There have been more “specialty rides” coming out to Red Deer Cruise Night this year, said Burden.
“A lot of guys over the wintertime were able to finish those specialty rides. We’ve had some gassers and drag rail cars, and I’m hoping to get a few funny cars in some time this season,” said Burden.
The event has been seeing about 300 rides each week. Burden said he expects that number to rise as the summer hits.
“Now that everything’s opened up … it’s giving people a chance to get back outside and enjoy the weather we’ve been having,” Burden said.
“It’s been really nice to see people out with smiles on their faces and kids being happy.”
Sylvan Lake Cruise Night, which is organized by the same group of people who run Red Deer Cruise Night, is now being run every Friday night instead of every second Friday.
“We’re getting bigger and bigger turnouts to that,” said Burden.
“We have room for well over 100 (at the Sylvan Lake Municipal Library parking lot), but right now we’re averaging about 25 to 30 a week. We’ve seen quite a few vehicles we have seen before there as well.”
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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