Cruisin’ the Coast: 25th annual Long Beach Kickoff Parade-Grace
Rain or shine, car enthusiasts gathered this evening in Long Beach to see a few of the thousands of cars in South Mississippi this week cruise through town.
At 1 pm., cars began lining up at Long Beach High School for the 25th annual Long Beach Kickoff Parade.
All participating cars were made in 1989 or earlier. Representatives from car clubs across the Coast started off the parade, followed by an array of cars from a Halloween-themed car to a vintage Bel-Aire to a replica Mystery Machine.
In total, nearly 200 cars took over the streets of Long Beach, including a 1978 Ford Pinto Runabout decked out in Star Wars memorabilia called the Wookie wagon. Waveland resident Chad Barnett said, “It’s amazing that you can bring this car to places with a quarter of a million dollar street rides and people just love this thing. I think the Pinto was everyone’s first car and everyone has a story to tell about a pinto. So, it just really makes it fun. Car people are an entity unto themselves, they really are. And it’s just about the love for the car. And I’ve done events from all over. You know, we do lots of events all over and what we find is that people– just automatically come together. Every person out here is a friend of mine, whether I’ve ever met them before or not. Instantly you strike up conversations. Talk about your cars, where you’re from. And it’s just a special thing that anybody who has interest in a car has.”
This year cars were able to throw beads and stuffed animals after not be allowed to last year due to COVID.
