One of Jacksonville’s more storied events is celebrating a big anniversary this weekend. The annual Jacksonville Cruise Night returns for its 40th year on Saturday as classic cars and trucks are set to take over Community Park during the day and Morton Avenue on Saturday night.
The event is now put on by the Morton Avenue Misfits, a non-profit organization dedicated to continuing the car culture tradition in the Jacksonville area. Joel Buchanan with the Morton Avenue Misfits says the 40th anniversary is very special for the Misfits as they honor the history of Cruise Night this year.
“There is a large car culture here starting way back since, well the beginning. But for Cruise Night in 1984 with Carl Coultas and the Gebhardts and the Hulls, the Northrops and everybody who were just kind of street rodders who were hanging out at this event just getting together and it blossomed and it’s become a very beloved event for a lot of people.”
Buchanan says the festivities kick off in the morning with the annual car show. “We have our car show starting at 9:00 am in Community Park. We’ve got music, multiple food vendors, almost fifty specialty vendors this year, and kid’s Hotwheels racing, just all sorts of stuff from nine to three right in the middle of Community Park. Then from 5:00 to 9:00 pm is Cruise Night, headquartered at Hardee’s and it’s primarily between the streets of Main and Lincoln.”
Buchanan says the car show is more of a cruise-in, but there will be some specialty awards handed out. He says the Morton Avenue Misfits pride themselves on hosting a great cruise night while trying to keep the evening cruise as safe as possible for spectators and cruisers alike.
“We try hard to keep it a safe event and if anybody’s acting up, I’ll try to take care of it myself if the police haven’t already, because we do want it to be a safe and secure environment for our participants and spectators. These people have a lot of time and money in their cars and we don’t want anything to happen to that. We don’t want anything to happen to anybody. So hopefully we will continue to have safe and secure events.”
The 40th Anniversary Cruise Night Car Show runs from 9 am to 3 pm in Community Park, then the Cruise takes over Morton Avenue from 5 to 9.
Commemorative 40th Anniversary Cruise Night tee shirts will be available for sale at the day and evening events for $25.00.
WEAI will be holding a live remote in front of Hardee’s from 6 to 9 pm.