"Cruiz-In" Brought New Visitors To Dalton
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2022
The "Georgia Mountain Moonshine Cruiz-In" event at the Dalton Convention Center brought thousands of new visitors to Dalton with hundreds of classic cars and a lot of fun. Last week's three day event was the 13th edition of the "Cruiz-In" but the first to be held in Dalton.
The "Cruiz-In" featured a number of different activities for car enthusiasts, including a mountain cruise and a classic car auction. Car collectors also exhibited their vehicles on the grounds of the Convention Center and around the City of Dalton during their stay. Tourism officials estimate that between 3,000 and 5,000 visitors took part in the event. They're still gathering data to calculate the economic impact on the Dalton area from the event.
Photo caption: classic cars on display in the parking lot of the Dalton Convention Center last Thursday morning
"I think it has room for growth," said Margaret Thigpen, Dalton's director of tourism. Thigpen noted that original plans for the event's move to Dalton called for it to be held for two years, but that planning for 2013 have not yet started. "We look forward to working with them."
The event was marred by a dangerous and nearly tragic accident on Friday afternoon when the driver of one of the vehicles in the car auction lost control of the vehicle, injuring several spectators. There were seven injuries reported with three people taken to area hospitals. Happily, all three were released from their respective hospitals later that same evening. Excellent planning for the event by Dalton public safety officials was partially credited for the positive outcome, as Dalton police, fire, and Hamilton EMS were staged on scene and were able to reach the patients within seconds of the accident.
Even though the accident led to the cancellation of a planned downtown parade on Friday night, visitors still took part in a downtown block party and a concert at Burr Park. The rest of Saturday's festivities took place as planned and visitors to the event had positive thoughts about their visit to Dalton and northwest Georgia.
"We are hoping to have them back," said Thigpen of hopes for a bigger and better "Cruiz-In" next summer. "It definitely brought a different group of people to our community, and we enjoyed welcoming them and everything we heard from them, they enjoyed our hospitality. And yeah, I think ... having learned a lot from this year, absolutely, we look forward to working with them if they choose to come back."
