Coolest event in VC:
Santa Paula Cruise Nite to launch 17th season Friday
April 01, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
The coolest event in Ventura County, Santa Paula’s Cruise Nite, is revving up for its 17th season Friday with hundreds of sweet, pre-1975 cars and even more friends strolling historic East Main Street enjoying live music, restaurants, shopping and the vibe of the historic Downtown.
The April 3 Cruise Nite will be held from about 5:30 p.m. to dusk although car owners start arriving Downtown well in advance to snag that perfect space to park and show their vehicles. The Cruise Nite season runs the First Friday of every month and ends with the October car show, returning every April.
Cruise Nite closes East Main Street between 10th and 7th streets, an event so popular that side streets are also utilized for the spillover of vehicles that can include motorcycles.
Sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and the Santa Paula Police Officers Association, Cruise Nite offers a night of fun for the entire family.
The popular Johnny & The Love Handles band will be performing under the Clock Tower and special Cruise Nite T-shirts — each month featuring a different displayed car — will be available for sale across the street.
Santa Paula Citizens Corps and the Santa Paula Fire Department will be offering Sidewalk CPR instruction — the new hands-only method of life-saving — in the area of Main and Mill streets.
According to Fire Chief Rick Araiza, each person that takes this 2-minute instruction will be entered in a raffle for a La Cabana gift card.
Things are always happening at Cruise Nite where many downtown restaurants offers specials and additional in-house entertainment and friends meet friends — and make new friends — as they stroll the Downtown.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” said Santa Paula Police Commander Ish Cordero.
“It’s exciting to keep Cruise Nite going season after season, it’s a community event where everyone is welcome. ”
And everyone, said Cordero, looks forward to Cruise Nite: “A lot of people really enjoy and look forward to it, not just Santa Paula folks but people I’ve met as far north as San Luis Obispo and as far south as Orange County … people in the Bakersfield area as well,” are known to drive out for Cruise Nite.
“The restaurants do a lot of business that day,” and create new return customers as Cruise Nite is the perfect time for dining, snacking and relaxing whether for a date night or family outing.
Cordero said it’s hard to pinpoint what he likes best about Cruise Nite: “I like the vibe, the cars, the music, the people that come and buy a T-shirt … some tell us they’ve bought them from day one they never wear them, just save them.
“I have the Cruise Nite quilt made by Margaret Burleson — she made it for someone who moved out of state,” then sent it to Cordero, who said he just might display it Friday evening.
And, “One thing we’re trying to do this year is let the public select the car that will be put on the next month’s Cruise Nite T-shirt,” drawn by artist Wendell Dowling.
Cruise Nite, the original regularly staged car show in Ventura County, started with a few short blocks closed to display pre-1975 cars, but under the direction of event coordinators Henry Aguilar and Dave Anderson, retired SPPD officers, the car show quickly grew.
Cruise Nite now draws hundreds of vehicles and thousands of people, a crowd that includes Santa Paula Police Reserves and SPPD Explorers who answer questions for visitors.
Cordero said there’s so much to see and do in the Downtown area, from the city’s famed murals to its array of museums, that often visitors come early to explore Santa Paula before Cruise Nite starts.
Cruise Nite is also a hit on cyberspace: photographers and videographers flock to the event, take pictures or film video for immediate Internet posting, visual invitations for others to come on down and visit Santa Paula.
