Monthly Main Street car cruises to continue in Lake Elsinore

By: JOSE CARVAJAL - Staff Writer | Tuesday, January 9, 2007 9:52 PM PST ∞

LAKE ELSINORE -- Vintage cars and the people who love them will take over much of Main Street once a month for at least another year, the City Council decided Tuesday, despite the concerns of a few downtown merchants who say closing local streets for the event limits access to their businesses.

The council voted unanimously to allow the closure of the city's main drag to continue the last Saturday of every month for the car cruises, which are organized by the Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Merchants Association.

From March until December, the stretch of the street from Heald Avenue to Sulphur Street will be shut down from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. For the May event, which is the annual rod run and is bigger than the rest of the monthly events, Main Street will be closed from Franklin Street to Library Street from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.

While some merchants have beefed about the event, none showed up to voice their opinion at Tuesday's meeting and that weighed heavily on council members. With the merchants association reporting at the meeting that many of its members love the event, the council members said they were inclined to approve it.

"The majority seems to be supportive of this," Councilwoman Genie Kelley said.

According to merchants association board member Ruth Atkins, an overwhelming majority of Main Street business owners want the monthly event to continue. It increases foot traffic downtown, she said, and brings in people from out of town.

It's important for the city to continue to get exposure from out-of-town visitors, she said.

"I love it when I'm on the street and I hear people say "We love coming to Lake Elsinore,'" Atkins said.

The council will reconsider in December whether to approve closing Main Street for the event in the future. At that time, members said, they want statistical information from the association showing just how much money the event draws to Main Street.

To the disappointment of the council, that information wasn't available Tuesday, but chamber of commerce President Kim Cousins said that the event has proven itself to be a great draw to Main Street. Each month since the event began last summer, he said, the number of cars entered in the event has increased and thousands of people have flocked to downtown.

Cousins also said that a proposal to move the car cruises to the southwest end of Main Street near City Park wouldn't be good for the attraction. That idea was proposed by the merchants who had raised concerns.

"There's limited lighting and there's difficulties with that area," he said. "We are trying to put our best face forward."

-- Contact staff writer Jose Carvajal at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or jcarvajal@californian.com.