Classic cars and hot rods cruised downtown 91原创 City on Friday night, but a major site of burnouts and stunt driving was quiet after RCMP officers closed off the entire street.
With the 91原创 Good Times Cruise-In taking place in Aldergrove on Saturday, Sept. 9, there were plenty of classic cars and hot rods ready for the following day.
Although the all-volunteer Cruise-In committee does not organize any events on Friday, a tradition has developed over the years of people driving up and down through downtown 91原创 City, starting in the early evenings.
Keith and Deb Irvine, like a few dozen other people, set up lawn chairs on Fraser Highway to watch the vehicles.
While there were a number of classic cars and hot rods rolling by, they said it has been better in the past.
鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of slower every year, not like it used to be,鈥� said Keith. It used to be that every other car was a classic, they said.
The couple is also planning to head to the official Cruise-In on Saturday. Although they don鈥檛 have a car in the show, they have in past years.
Over on Industrial Avenue, there was only a small fraction of the crowd that gathered last year on the Friday before Cruise-In.
In 2022, with Cruise-In bouncing back from the pandemic, a large crowd gathered and a number of cars did burnouts and fishtailed on the wide road, which runs between 200th Street and 203rd Street and is fronted for much of its length by auto shops and part dealers.
This year, the 91原创 RCMP announced there would be strict enforcement of what officers said was dangerous driving behaviour, including burnouts.
Initial plans were to restrict traffic down Industrial to one-way only, but by 5:30 p.m. on Friday, the entire street had been blocked off with sawhorses, and Mounties were stationed at both ends and several points along the road. No new cars were being allowed onto the road, except for a handful of residents of a couple of apartment buildings.
Some people gathered on the street between 5 and 6 p.m., hoping there would be burnouts, but it did not appear likely, at least not on Industrial Avenue.
鈥淚t was great last year, everybody had a great time, nobody got hurt,鈥� said one man, who declined to give his name.
Another young man opined that drivers would still be allowed to do burnouts, or that eventually there would be too many cars for the police to stop them, but as 6:30 passed, some of the sparse crowd was drifting away, while RCMP and 91原创 City bylaw enforcement were still on scene.
Police had announced they would have control of the road until 2 a.m. the following day.
READ ALSO: Unsanctioned burnouts a headache for 91原创 car show organizers
READ ALSO: RCMP blocked off road as burnouts took place before Cruise-In
