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Car cruise is a Lowellville summer tradition
Car cruise has become a lowellville tradition
By SARAH LEHR
LOWELLVILLE
Al Smith, the founder of Lowellville’s “Cruisin’ the River” car cruise, grew up in Lowellville and remembers drag racing as a teenager in the 1950s.
“We used to meet at different restaurants and just sit around and talk, and at the end of the night, go out and race our cars,” he said. “It was, of course, a good place to pick up girls. Of course, we don’t do that anymore.”
Smith created Lowellville’s weekly summer car cruise in part to pay tribute to those memories. The cruise – which takes place every Monday, weather-permitting, from 5 to 8 p.m. May to October – raises money for local causes.
In the past, the cruise has contributed to the 4-H Club, the police department and to college scholarships. “No matter what, we try to make sure that the money stays in the community,” Smith said.
About 400 cars lined up along East Water Street for Monday’s cruise. Antique-car owners came from as far away as Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
“At today’s cruise, we had people come from an 100 mile radius,” Smith said.
There also were games and refreshments.
Butch Rocco, who handles advertising and promotions for the cruise, knows a thing or two about cars. He worked for Chevrolet for 33 years and owned his own body shop. Smith said he has owned “a couple hundred” cars in his lifetime and attended “hundreds and hundreds” of car cruises.
Rocco now owns a 1967 Chevelle Super Sport convertible.
Though Rocco manages car cruises in Canton, New Castle, Pa., and Butler, Pa., he said Lowellville’s cruise is one of the best cruises he’s encountered because of its friendly atmosphere.
“There are no egos, no trophies. There’s no arguments,” he said. “There’s something there for everybody. ... Whether you just want to come for fun or come for dinner, for God’s sake. It’s tremendous.”
Monday’s cruise shut down early at 7 p.m. due to rain, but Smith said the attendees did not suffer from a lack of energy. “Knowing this crowd, if it hadn’t been for the rain, by 8 p.m. we would have been dancing in the streets,” he said. “Doing the jitterbug and all that.”