Around 300 cars gather for the Gas City Cruise-In

Gas City’s September 14 Cruise-In event marked another success for a growing community of old car lovers. 

Grant County resident Kevin Rheam has worked to bring the Gas City Cruise-In to life over the past four years. He said that the event has seen much growth with the first Cruise-In bringing in about 30 cars and current events bringing in 300-500 vehicles. 

“Even the Mayor cruises through and checks things out,” Rheam said. “We’ve not ever had any problems. The one good thing about this. It’s free, you know. So we don’t charge nothing to come in. Just bring your chairs, appetite and your car. Or if you don’t, you know, just come down, and hang out with us.”

The Cruise-In started as an idea to have people bring their 90s cars and gather together, but Rheam built the event up to what it looks like now with cars from the 50s to the current day. 

Rheam works with his friend and longtime car-lover Tracey Creech to bring the Gas City Cruise-In together each month from April to October. They work in tandem to fund this event. 

“Everything’s free to everyone that comes. But it takes money to buy dash plaques. It takes money to buy flyers, so we got a few elect people that donate pretty good funds. And we do all this just to help promote it, because we’re all car people,” Creech said. “We don’t care if (the car) is old — it just needs to be cool.”

Creech has always been a car guy, going to the Nashville Auto Diesel College and working and an Oldsmobile Dealership from then. He said he loves the Cruise-In event because of the community of like-minded, car-loving individuals. 

“Cars have always been my passion. They’re still my passion, and I’ll die with it being my passion,” Creech said while sitting in the back of his old orange truck.  

Alongside the old car community, the Cruise-In also has local food vendors and musicians who donate their time for the cause. 

 Cars both old and new lined the streets while their owners showed them off to the attendees.

Local musician Spike Gaskin enjoyed his time at the Cruise-In so much that he approached the Gas City Park Board and asked if he could donate his time and play music at the event, which was easily agreed upon. 

“Spike Gaskin and his partner Jim, they do a great job. Everybody here loves them,” Rheam said. 

Spike Gaskin is not the only Grant County resident to contribute to the Cruise-In event. Stephane Hale of Hale’s Kitchen and Catering also brings out her food truck whenever possible. 

Hale lives in Upland and is a full-time employee at Ball Hospital. She discovered her love of cooking for the community of Grant County a few years back and decided to open up a food truck to run on her days off from the hospital. 

“And I love people, so what a perfect way to meet people. And I love to cook. So what a perfect combination,” Hale said. “And I love the people of our county and I like cars.”

With lemon shake ups from Hale’s truck, music from Gaskin and cool cars from all around Grant County, the September Gas City Cruise-In was another successful event for the car-loving community in Grant County.