Cruise Kearney kickoff event to take place Friday

(From the City of Springfield)

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!

The Cruise Kearney! kickoff event will be held Friday, May 26 beginning at 6 p.m. with a ribbon cutting at Kearney Street and Melville Avenue, just west of the Kearney and Kansas Expressway intersection in front of Hobby Lobby.

The cruise will begin immediately following the ribbon cutting and proceed east toward Glenstone Avenue.

Want to be the first car through the ribbon? Midwest Auto Alliance is holding a contest to drive through the ribbon. Visit http://midwestautoalliance.com/kearney.php to enter.

The kickoff coincides with the National Street Rod Association’s Mid-America Street Rod Nationals at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds May 26-28, which draws more than 2,200 classic cars to Springfield.

Food trucks will be stationed at Benton Avenue and Kearney Street in the empty lot across Kearney from Baptist Bible College. Cruisers who want to park for awhile can pull into the old Kmart parking lot at Kearney and Glenstone for a “show and shine” cruise-in.

The McDonald’s at 1114 E. Kearney is offering a special 6-10 p.m. that evening: a double cheeseburger and a small frozen Coke for $2.

Following the kickoff, Cruise Kearney! events will be held 6-10 p.m. on the second Friday of each month, April through October.

The Cruise Kearney! initiative came about after City Council unanimously approved a resolution in April to support cruising on Kearney as a community tradition that brings neighborhoods together while promoting civic engagement and encouraging tourism.

“I think the possibility of cruising brings enormous opportunities to the businesses on Kearney and really all of north Springfield,” Zone 1 Councilwoman Phyllis Ferguson said at the April 17 council meeting. Earlier this year, the City hosted a series of activities aimed at efforts to revitalize the Kearney Street corridor.

Cruise Kearney! organizers emphasize that the event is family-friendly and that all makes and models of cars, trucks and motorcycles are welcome.