The 2023 Festus Mayor’s Summer Cruise on June 3 turned into a celebration for the Festus High School baseball team that won the Missouri Class 5 state baseball championship earlier in the day.
The Summer Cruise festivities began that afternoon with an informal car show on the Festus Public Library Parking lot. At 6 p.m., people began driving their cars and other vehicles up and down Main Street in Festus and Bailey Road in Crystal City.
Spectators lined the streets to watch the cruise, which lasted several hours.
The Tiger baseball team bus arrived around 9 p.m.
“Yes, that was cool,” Festus Mayor Sam Richards said. “We sort of arranged that. We were at first concerned with bringing the bus up Main Street during the cruise, but we discussed it with (Police Chief) Doug Wendel and thought it would be fine to let everyone cheer the team. I was able to get on the bus and speak to them.”
Richards said he could not venture a guess at the number of people who took part in the event, but he was pleased with the events of the day.
“There were more people than we’ve had in years,” he said. “There were so many vehicles cruising. Everybody behaved themselves. Overall, I thought it was a big success.”
Josh Whaley, the Festus parks director, estimated that thousands either drove in the cruise or watched from the sidewalks.
Richards said it would have been difficult to shoehorn more vehicles onto the library parking lot for the car show.
“We had a real good amount of cars show up for the car show at the library,” he said. “The lot was packed.”
The Mayor’s Fall Cruise is scheduled for Sept. 16.
Both the city of Festus and the Festus Tourism Commission sponsor the cruises.
For more information about other Festus events, visit cityoffestus.org and hit the “Around Town” button.
Next on the schedule is the Twin City Firecracker Festival, which is put on by both Festus and Crystal City, set for Saturday and Sunday, June 23-24, at Larry G. Crites Memorial Park along Old Hwy. A, in Festus.