Despite both the ongoing pandemic and the threat of a hurricane, Cruisin’ the Coast was able to pull off a “successful event,” according to the car show’s executive director and co-founder.
“We knew the COVID issues were kind of working against us as far as attendance goes,” Woody Bailey, who has been in charge of Cruisin’ since 2008, said Monday morning. “Of course, you throw in (Hurricane) Delta showing up. It’s pretty amazing that we were able to do all eight days of the event.”
Weather-wise, there were no issues beyond a temporary shutdown on Friday night, however, Bailey did note that the forecast prevented some spectators from making the trek.
“With that forecast coming in, I know we lost a number of spectators, but those who stayed around were treated to some great weather and some great times,” he said.
As for the cars, Cruisin’ officials expected to lose around 1,000 cars from last year’s final number of 8,620. With the combination of COVID-19 and Hurricane Delta, this year’s pre-registered number landed at 6,778—1,842 less than 2019.
“Prior to the event, we felt like with the way our registration was running that COVID may take about 1,000 people away from us from last year,” Bailey continued. “Then, I knew the storm would take us down some more as far as numbers, but 1,842 is really not that bad.”
Looking on to 2021, Bailey hinted that they are expecting some big-time guests to celebrate the event’s 25th anniversary.
“One of the biggest things that we’ve been working on, and we’ve gotten confirmation of it, is that Jay Leno is going to be here…and hopefully, we’ll get The Beach Boys back.”
Next year’s edition of Cruisin’ the Coast is currently set for October 3-10.
