04/11/2026
DON’T FORGET TO SWING BY THE CRUISE IN TONIGHT!!
All my car fans please share. Almost 2 weeks ago I made a post that included this Car event in Williamson, but I want to go a little more into detail and encourage everyone to attend.  The Sunday evening cruises in Downtown Huntington have been the most fun I have had at any type of car show event. It was so organic and so impromptu people came when they want people left when they want. Nobody parked neatly in line and raised the hoods of their cars. It was literally hanging out and cruising like we did when I was in my early 20s. But this time the crowd was nearly all car people unlike back then when you had different people there for different reasons. The first cruise in Huntington was 2022. It progressed into a monthly cruise year-round. And I was never disappointed even on snowy days, when it would morph into a jeep ride gathering. Princeton, West Virginia‘s cool cruisin’ nights was my inspiration. I went to then Mayor Steve Williams, and he agreed to allow us to have the event, which I’m still thankful to him today. Adam Kazee and the dirtbags car club, has been major supporters of the event, and I am very appreciative of everything he has done. Also, Vanessa Mills really took an interest in the event and has been a major asset. Last fall, Adam attended cool cruisin nights in Princeton. He said “Mark we really should get our event moved to Saturday night for 2026 the vibe and the crowd was amazing at the Princeton Cruise” I agreed. Saturday night of course was my choice but to do a soft entrance me and the mayor had decided on Sunday night. So I approached new Huntington Mayor Patrick Farrell, and he said it shouldn’t be a problem. Back in December 2025 I went in front of the Huntington City Council. I told them about the current ongoing Sunday night event and I asked to do the event instead for 2026 on Saturday night. I was met with consideration, but a feel of skepticism from the City Council. The president of the Council cruised Cruise Ave in his younger days, so he understood. I was told to send an email to the City Council so they could fully understand what I was asking, I spent the time, sent them the detailed email. I was told I had a cell phone number of a lady there who I needed to go through. Ends up it was a landline that went through 10 different people before I could even talk to the person and I never did get to talk to that lady. I talked to the mayor and he said he asked the local businesses and he had push back. One business was located over at Heritage Station two blocks away from where we wanted to just merely have our impromptu car gathering. I’ve heard horror stories about how hard it is to make anything happen in Huntington and this kind of confirms those struggles. I had plans of doing a big PowerPoint presentation to show the City Council the millions that are available in economic development if one of these events is handled, right(i.e. woodward dream cruise) I haven’t given up on the idea, but when my cousin Duane Adkins was telling me about a month ago, his Mingo-Pike car club was wanting to have a downtown Cruise gathering in Williamson. Naturally, I was all for it. He had been talking to Tug Valley Cvb, Director Ashley Hatfield. Ashley got us on the agenda at the last City Council meeting. Me, Ashley and Duane talked about our car cruise proposal much like what I had done three months ago in front of the Huntington City Council, and the Williamson City Council met us with open arms welcoming us to have our car cruise on Saturday night, April 11. I’m proud of the Williamson City Council for thinking outside the box and allowing this cruise to happen. Hopefully the weather is good and everybody comes out to support this event. Sorry for the lengthy post, but I just wanted to explain the whole thing and give kudos to the Williamson City Council.
