First Cruise Night of 2021 a success

MORRIS – Despite a heavy storm shortly before the event was about to begin Saturday, Morris Cruise Night’s first event since October 2019 went off well.

A total of 422 cars were entered in the show, and they lined both sides of Liberty Street, as well as cross streets a block east and west of Liberty from Washington to the railroad tracks.

“When the rain came through, we already had 150 cars,” Cruise Night founder Herb Wyeth said. “The rain kept some people from bringing their cars, but we had a good turnout.”

Wyeth said the 422 cars came from 76 cities and included out-of-state cars from Indiana, Michigan, Alabama, California, Florida and Georgia. He also estimated the crowd of spectators to have been about 5,000.

“The weather might have been a bit of a blessing,” he said. “After not having any of these events last year, we were kind of rusty. It was good to get some of the kinks worked out before we have a larger number of cars show up later in the summer.”

The next event is scheduled for July 10 and will benefit Grundy County Heroes and Helpers.

The 50/50 raffle, which benefited the Morris Police Benevolent Society, brought in a total of $5,756, with half of that, $2,878, going to winner Collin Severson. The car that was chosen for the Beneficiaries Award was a 2021 Chevrolet Corvette owned by Larrie Hokinson of Homer Glen, and the Celebrity’s Choice Award, selected by Morris Mayor Chris Brown, was a 1941 Ford pickup truck owned by Mark Washburn of Morris.

“Overall, it was a good event,” Wyeth said. “We were happy with the 50/50 amount, and after the rain the weather was nice and there were a lot of people downtown.”