As Wendy Williams and Kevin Nelson made their way from a remote radio broadcast at Stocker Chevrolet on the Benner Pike to downtown State College 28 years ago, they began to notice a sea of cars gridlocked on College Avenue.
“I thought we were going to jail,” Nelson, who hid on the floor of the radio van, says.
Earlier in the week, Nelson and Williams had discussed a new ordinance that would ban “cruising” in downtown State College on their show, “Wendy and Kevin in the Mornings” on WRC. Williams, an avid fan of cruising, made an “off the cuff” comment during the segment suggesting that people in the area drive downtown on Saturday and do one last cruise.
“I said, “Here’s an American institution that has kind of gone by the wayside,’” Willaims says. “‘Cruising was just part of the American scene.’ And literally that’s where the Last Cruise came from. We were going to do one last cruise, and 20-plus years later, we’re still cruising.”
The Last Cruise has gone from an impromptu drive around State College to a car and motorcycle show that benefits the Centre County Youth Service Bureau. The event, which will be held this Sunday, features awards for various Best of the Best categories, live entertainment and children’s activities before everyone gets in their cars for the annual cruise.
Andrea Boyles, director of the Centre County Youth Services Bureau, says the event is one of four major fundraising efforts the bureau has during the year to raise its target of $400,000 to help fund important programs like Big Brothers Big Sisters.
“This event, for us, is not only a fundraiser, but also a give back to the community,” Boyles says. “Anyone can come and enjoy the cars, whether you’re a car show person or not, it’s pretty amazing to see the cars themselves, but also the incredible amount of work people put into these vehicles.”
The event begins with the invite-only Best of the Best Show, which showcases about 60 vehicles, at 1 p.m. on South Allen Street. Oldies rock band Your Dad’s Friends starts at 2 and plays until the awards show at 4. Then, around 4:30, everyone is welcome to head downtown and cruise through the route, which makes a circle on Beaver and College avenues from High Street to North Atherton Street until 6.
“I look back in my 30 years in radio and this has to be right at the top of the list of things that I’m most proud of,” Williams says. “And I’m proud that it grew into a fundraiser for the Youth Service Bureau because that was an important part of the evolution of the event.”
The ordinance that Williams and Nelson discussed on their show almost 30 years ago, which is still enforced today, describes cruising as the “repetitive, unnecessary driving of motor vehicles.”
More specifically, “cruising … is driving a motor vehicle on a street past a traffic control point, designated by a police officer, in the designated area three or more times within any 1-hour period, from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., or six or more times within any 3-hour period, from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., prevailing time.”
For the event, the ordinance is suspended so that everyone can enjoy a cruise around Happy Valley. According to a news release, the State College Police Department reminds drivers that “officers will continue to enforce vehicle code violations including speeding, red light and stop sign violations, and driving too fast for conditions violations.
Officers will also take enforcement action for drivers doing ‘burn outs’ and for operating a vehicle in a careless or reckless manner.”
As the accidental creators of the event, Nelson and Williams still attend the Last Cruise.
Although he points out that his role is very minor nowadays, Nelson does some announcing for the show and during the awards ceremony.
“The point was to complain about an ordinance,” Nelson says, thinking about how it all started. “The fact that we were able to pull something off like that and have such a response the first year, and then be able to turn that around into something that has been raising money for a great cause ever since … we’re doubly proud of that.”
Williams just likes to take his 1969 Chevelle downtown before the cruise to check out some of the other classic cars. A product of the 1950s and 60s cruising culture, Williams sees the event as an opportunity to continue one of America’s great lost pastimes.
“It always use to irritate me when people use to ask, ‘When does the parade start?’” he says. “It’s not a parade, it’s cruising! It just happens. It’s just spontaneous.”
“The reason that we cruised is because we didn’t have Facebook,” Williams adds about the cruising era. “That was our social interaction. You would pick a spot where you would meet up, like a grocery store or a drive-in burger place, and go cruise the town from block to block.”
For more information about the Last Cruise click HERE.
