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  • Thousands of enthusiasts participate in the first-ever Cruisin' Van Buren Friday, driving around McDonalds and down to the Conoco at the south end of Van Buren. (Staff Photo by BONNIE VCULEK)

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Discussion

June 19, 2010

Cruising was 'the thing to do'

Van Buren Cruisers brings back nostalgic Enid ritual this weekend

By Bridget Nash Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle

ENID — It was a simpler time.

Engines rumbling, radios blaring, laughter and words filling the humid Oklahoma summer air.

And don’t forget an icy soda pop.

Cruising was, at one time “the thing to do” for American teenagers and in Enid, Van Buren was the designated road for cruising teens.

Cruising has become a less popular activity over the years, but a group in Enid has decided to bring it back for one weekend each year.

“It’s to show our kids what we did for fun before computers, cell phones, Twitter,” said Darla Dalton Robbins, a 1989 Enid High School graduate.

The Van Buren Cruisers originally began as an online social group started by Robbins.

“I just started it as a group on Facebook to see how many people would join,” Robbins said.

The Facebook group now has more than 1,500 members who joined to reminisce about their cruising days. The group consists of recent graduates and graduates from as far back as the 1950s. Robbins said one person came all the way from Virginia to attend the event and people from as far as Alaska and England have promised to attend next year.

“Next year we’ll see about having a lot more activities,” Robbins said.

Friday and Saturday evening many of the online group members, along with some who never had joined the online group, gathered to experience a blast from the past “draggin’ the strip.”

Dale Turner, of Broken Arrow, is just one of the many people who came back to Van Buren to cruise but he didn’t only bring memories along.

He brought the car in which he cruised Van Buren in the late 1960s.

Turner’s 1955 Ford Thunderbird was his cruising car all the way until he graduated from Enid High School in 1968 and he cruised Van Buren in it again for the event.

Turner said he had many memories from his cruising days.

“I’ve got one that’s too long to tell but it sure is funny,” Turner said.

One of the favorite stops on the cruising route was the long-since-gone A&W on South Van Buren, where Turner remembers getting cherry-flavored orange sodas.

“We used to go in there and get cherry oranges,” Turner said. “Man, when you were hot, it was wonderful.”

Whether Turner was a showy driver or a speed-demon, he didn’t say, but he did say this: “I got very few of my tickets on Van Buren.”

He also divulged his driver’s education teacher was Norman Lamb of Enid, a former state senator.

Turner said he hoped to run into some people he knew during this trip back to Van Buren.

“This was a great town to grow up in,” he said.

Many local businesses joined the event, allowing cars involved to park in their lots so cruisers could get out and visit with each other. Those businesses included McDonald’s, Central Christian Church, Trick Truck USA, South Van Buren Square, Tina Hall Attorney, EZ Pawn, Western Medical Supply, Long John Silver’s, Comfort Inn and Rendezvous.

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