Cruisin’ the Coast celebrates 25 years

The biggest record for Cruisers ever set was in 2019 with 8,620.

As event organizers are expecting to surpass that they’re thrilled to see how far Cruisin’ has come. When it was first started in 1996, there were 374 cars registered.

Having grown that number significantly and expected to make their way to three counties and 11 cities, they are surprised and thankful because the bigger crowds mean more economic impact in the area. Cruisin’ the Coast Executive Director Woody Bailey said, “We were trying to help the economy of South Mississippi during a slow time of the year, the fall. Typically, not a lot went on in the fall, especially after Labor Day, so that’s the whole point is to help our economy out.”

Cruisin’ the Coast performs an economic impact study every five years and they’ll be doing a study to see just how much impact it has in the area.