Heat doesn't stop the Parkville Cruise

Parkville held their monthly cruise last Saturday night, so as usual, I stopped by to take some pictures.  The attendance was a bit down from the crushing mass of cars that was there last month, but the temperature was hovering at around 100-degrees.  Considering the miserable conditions, and the fact that the Main Street Parkville Association hasn’t figured out how to air-condition English Landing Park, I’d say they did all right.

Basehor Boys Sonic Cruise draws in some nice cars

One of the nicer cruises in the Kansas City area is the Basehor Boys Cruise at the Basehor Sonic, which is held on the second Friday of each month.  I hadn’t been able to get there yet this year for one reason or another, but I was finally able to break away last week to check out some of the great cars on display.  Combine all that with nice people, nearby food, and a little music, and you have one of those events that should be on everyone’s list.

The June Parkville Cruise was great for car lovers; hard on armpits

Summer is definitely setting in. If there was one thing that would have made the June cruise night in downtown Parkville any better, it would have been a giant air conditioner. It was a real test of man vs. deodorant.

Car count was a bit low, too. But there was a lot of car-related competition Saturday. A lot of people probably had enough heat at Kansas Speedway this afternoon, there was a big World of Outlaws race at Lakeside, and there were several other cruises going on around town at the same time.

When you get to the Longbranch Car Cruise too late, it's a little tough to see anything

Friday night my mom had some of her little gnome dolls that she makes featured at Images Art Gallery in Overland Park, Kan., so we went down there after work to check it out. My wife drove, and just as we were about to head north toward home, I casually sprung out with, "hey, just turn down here and let's see if there are any cars at the Longbranch Cruise."

To which she shrewdly observed, "um, it's dark out, you know."

And she had a point. Fact is, at 7:15, the sun was completely gone. Pitch dark. Nothing to see here. Why does summer have to end, anyway?

THE ULTIMATE KANSAS CITY CAR SHOW INDEX

 

Round, round, get around, I get around.  I post up stories about a lot of different car things here, but one of the biggest commitments is the local car show scene.  I've compiled a list of links to stories from all kinds of car shows since I started this in June of 2009.  They all include a photo slideshow and information about what was going on there that day.

Whether you were at that show or wish that you could have been, this is a pretty nice archive of all the events I've covered.  Maybe your car is in the photos!  This also includes events that I wrote about on the Examiner, so if you click on those links, you'll be taken to that site.

I appreciate my family, especially my wife and son, for putting up with all these car show exploits, and even going with me to a majority of them. 

I'll continue to update this list with newer events at the bottom as I go along.  I hope you enjoy taking a look back at all the automotive fun that Kansas City has to offer!

Final Parkville Car Cruise of 2010 was nice, but sad at the same time

Since I'm a Parkville resident, it saddens me to report that the last downtown cruise night of the year was Saturday night. I have to admit, I enjoyed having one event that was five minutes from home, and I was starting to feel sort of a renewed connection with our historic downtown.

This weekend's cruise was up against some extraordinarily stiff competition. Of course, the Goodguys show was just letting out at the Kansas Speedway. The Greaserama show was packing them in at the Boulevard Drive-In. And there were one of a million different places where people could go to enjoy what turned out to be a gorgeous late-summer evening.

Riverside Red X cruise night combines neat cars with a bizarre, but fun, shopping experience

The Red X store in Riverside, Mo., held a car cruise on Friday night, and they couldn't have had a better night for it. With temperatures hovering in the '70s, a beautiful sunset, and a lot full of car nuts, you couldn't have asked for a better place to start the long Labor Day weekend.

The Riverside Red X is kind of a fascinating place to go regardless. It's hard to really describe the store in two words, like "department store," or "liquor store," or "grocery store." It's a little bit of all of them. Really, the place is kind of strange, but in a good way. You just have to go there to understand what I mean.