Organizers are making plans to take the annual Pacific Cruise Night from a casual car cruise to a judged car show, according to Adam Kraus, 2013 event chair.
They also are looking at ways to attract more cars and more patrons to the 11th annual Cruise Night, which will take place on the downtown Pacific streets Saturday, June 15.
Organizers say they are looking at important changes and stepped-up promotion.
“We hope to attract 10,000 visitors this year,” Kraus said. “We have a lot of work to do.”
In a major change, the Pacific Partnership, which hosts the popular event, will assume responsibility for attracting the cars and will handle registration on the day of the event.
This year, the event will be a traditional car show with judges to select winning entries in 10 different categories.
Cars will be judged for paint, motor and interior in three manufacturers categories — Dodge, Ford and Chevrolet — and in five time periods, pre-1950s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
“We haven’t selected the judges yet, but they will be from the automotive rebuilding industry,” Kraus said. “We’ll ask them to recognize quality work on these show cars.”
The goal is to attract at least 400 pre-1985 cars. The entire committee will take part in the recruiting effort.
“There have been years when we had more cars, but we think 400 cars will make for a good, substantial show,” Kraus said.
In addition to the event chairman, members of the Cruise Night 2013 committee are Loyd Harris, Floyd Blake, Stephen Flannery III, Ron Sansone, Mike Bagwell Jr., Bill McLaren and Brenda Wiesehan.
The committee will meet at D’Angelo’s Pizza once a month on the second Tuesday until April, and will meet weekly after that.
Wiesehan will design posters, fliers and print advertising to promote the event. Signs, the Internet, radio, mailings, advertising and visits with regional car clubs all will be used to attract patrons on the day of the show.
In addition to trophies, a new dash plaque will be designed for the 2013 show.
Vendors are invited to open booths for food, drink and crafts. The Partnership will operate a barbecue booth to raise funds for future events.
