Friends of Ironton hosting movie car show tonight

People of a certain age remembering cruising Ironton on Friday and Saturday nights.

In the age before the Internet became readily available and when gas was cheap, teenagers would spend their weekend nights just driving around downtown as a way to get out and socialize.

The Friends of Ironton is looking to bring that back this year, with four Flashback Fridays.

The first classic car cruise line will be tonight.

“It’s a moving car show, is what it is,” explained Rick Jansen, a volunteer with Friends of Ironton. “It’s meant for people who want to look at really cool cars and share memories of Ironton’s rich tradition of the cruise line. It’s going to bring back some nostalgia.”

He said that most car shows, the cars sit in a parking lot and you walk around to check them out, but with a cruise line “you get to sit there and watch all the neat cars go by. There is something about the sight and sounds of it, it is much more of a interactive thing.”

The event will follow the old cruise line from 8-11 p.m., from Jefferson Street down to Third Street, then turning on Center Street to Fourth Street, down Railroad Street to Second Street, back on to Center Street to get back on Third Street to Adams Street to Second Street and then back to Jefferson Street.

“It’s not only going to be cars, there will be motorcycles as well,” Jansen said.

He added there has been quite an online reaction after the cruise line was announced a couple of weeks ago.

“The Facebook traffic has been crazy,” Jansen said. “Within 50 hours, we had 5,500 views.  We are getting people who used to be in the cruise line and they are very excited. And we are excited to have this and hope it is just a night of fun. Everyone is invited, whether you have a hot rod car or not. Just come to downtown and have a good time watching the cars go by.”

There will also be a cruise line poker run for $5 and a Queen of Hearts and 50/50 raffle at the Ro-Na Theater. Jansen said there would be a few surprises too, but wasn’t announcing what they were.

The next Flashback Friday cruise lines will be on Aug. 3, Sept. 7 and Oct. 5.

“We want to make it a summertime tradition again,” Jansen said.