Cruisin’ the Coast wraps up

From Bay St. Louis to Pascagoula, classic cars took the Gulf Coast by storm this past week and set the standard for the future of Cruisin’ the Coast.

Engines were revved and over 8400 classic cars flooded the streets of South Mississippi for this year’s Cruisin’ the Coast, breaking last year’s number of vehicles. Cruisin’ the Coast Director Woody Bailey said, “Everything fell in place. My phone didn’t ring as much as it has in the past year so all the pre-planning that we did came together. Like I said, it allowed us to have a super Cruisin’ the Coast 2018.”

On Sunday at the wrap up party, $20,000 was given away by random draw to 40 lucky Cruisers, but they weren’t the only lucky ones.  One person got to take home a 1968 Camaro. All week Cruisers bought raffle tickets in hopes of winning this ride with the proceeds benefiting Make-A-Wish. South Mississippi Make-A-Wish Director Shellie Moses said, “Make-A-Wish and Cruisin’ the Coast have been having a relationship for the past 16 years. So, we’ve been working together for a lot of fun and a lot of good wishes.”

Some of these wishes granted were for kids like little Asher who was born with a congenital heart defect, but by the grace of Make-A-Wish, Asher got the chance to go to Disney World to meet his favorite character Mickey Mouse.

From those Camaro ticket sales alone Cruisin’ the Coast was able to present a check for $30,000 to Make-A-Wish. “Honestly, it was a huge surprise. Their goal every year is to make sure they can grant at least three wishes and they’ve upped their ante this year which is a great thing. I mean, that means more kids can have a wish come true. So, I was pleasantly surprised and very happy,” said Moses.

This year’s Cruisin’ the Coast may be over, but registration for next year is open and they already have over 800 cars in the mix. “We’re off to a great start. We got a lot of people signed up for next year and everything is looking great. If we have some more sunshine like this next year it’ll be another awesome event for the Gulf Coast,” said Bailey.