The air smelled like honeysuckle flowers and hamburgers on the grill. Every few minutes the melody of a new song would pass by your ears from the passing cars. If it wasn’t one of your favorite songs, you just had to give it a minute and it would change. If you wanted to enjoy one song in it’s entirety, you merely had to hang out at the Barn Market and listen to DJ Bobby G on his loudspeaker playing old rock classics. An added bonus to hanging out there was the abundance of Tony’s Ice Cream to eat. I, myself, chose to wander up and down the main strip to see everything.
I saw people (and well behaved dogs) smiling and enjoying themselves. Elders, families, teens, and toddlers together, relishing all the food and drink options Blacksburg has to offer. I saw them sipping iced coffees from WiseFire Cafe, eating hearty meals out of take-out trays from Joy Wok, Danny’s, Bantam Chef, etc. I also saw them carrying around Kona Ice’s, boiled peanuts, pork rinds, and more from the many concession sources.
There were quite a few interesting vehicles to admire including the rigs and ferris wheel that will be featured in the Blacksburg Carnival scheduled for June 1-7th.
It was a highly successful and wholesome event enjoyed by all. Of course, there will be some criticism due to the current fears about public health. We would like to comend those who are highly responsible and choose to avoid large crowds and the like, but we also remind them that no one is pressuring them to leave their homes or participate in events such as Blacksburg Cruisin’. Those of us who attended realize that we may be living dangerously, but the most important part of that statement for us, is the part where we are “living”. We only get one life to enjoy, and there will never be a point at which there will be no remaining dangers present in the act of living.
Not only were we “living” and enjoying our time, we were supporting our local businesses. We also packed a whole van and a half with food donations for The Blacksburg Backpack Buddies, who feed hungry kids in our local neighborhoods. Not only was food donated, but $500 in cash as well. The Blacksburg Volunteer Fire Department raised a lot of money for their needs as well. I think the people of Blacksburg and her visitors did pretty good
Information about how much was raised by Blacksburg Backpack Buddies was sourced from statements of Blacksburg native and member of the Blacksburg Cruisin’ planning team; Jenny Collins Stroupe
