Love of classics drives enthusiasts to downtown River Run cruise

Nothing fills downtown Ottawa quite like the “Back to the ’60s Cruise Night.”

“There were so many people I could hardly turn around,” Kathy Turner, Turner Flowers and Gifts, said about 10 p.m. Saturday as the cruise wound down.

With a backdrop of businesses bordered in Christmas lights and people elbow-to-elbow up and down Main Street, vintage cars and trucks cruised up and down Main from Forest Park to City Park.

“I didn’t realize there were so many pre-1972 cars,” Don Camp, Tulsa, Okla., said amid the rumbling of engines and the fumes of exhaust.

Camp brought his 1965 Chevy Nova to the Ol’ Marais River Run for the first time. The Nova always had made it to Springfield, Mo., for a show while a friend of his would come to the River Run.

“He always told me that I needed to come here,” Camp said while leaning against his maroon and pearl white Nova.

When the show at Springfield was canceled this year, Camp and his wife, Alison, brought their Nova and a couple of friends to Ottawa.

The Camps weren’t the only newcomers. The show had 1,565 registered vehicles this year, which easily beat last year’s record of 1,480, Jack Barnhart, organizer, said.

Although Camp has been to car shows and to cruise nights, he said he never had seen a combination of the two quite like River Run.

The nostalgia of the classic cars passing by is part of what makes cruise night so special, Roy Dunn, of the Vietnam Veterans Chapter No. 912, said.

“People like to reminisce and talk about all of the old cars,” Dunn said.

“We’re all veterans from the ’60s,” he said in front of the Vietnam Veterans tent on the courthouse lawn at Fourth and Main streets.

The veterans were selling cherry cokes complete with maraschino cherries for the fifth year.

“We try to keep up with the nostalgia of the Ol’ Marais River Run,” he said. “People look for our booth every year.”

With the nostalgia flowing and cars cruising, the River Run seems to be keeping old acquaintances and making new ones.

“We’ll definitely be back,” Lynn Lambert, Tulsa, Okla., said.