Riverhead’s classic car ‘cruise night’ will continue through the month of September.
The popular Thursday night event on the Peconic Riverfront was scheduled to end for the season on Aug. 28, but Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter and the BID Management Association board member running the cruise nights this year, Raymond Dickhoff, said Thursday the town will keep it going.
“We’ll continue it for the month, really for as long as the classic car enthusiasts keep coming down,” Walter said, as he surveyed Thursday night’s turnout of antique cars, owners and spectators positioned along Heidi Behr Way along the riverfront.
Dickhoff, a partner in Joe’s Garage, has been coordinating the event for the BIDMA this year.
“It’s a nice event for the riverfront and draws a lot of visitors downtown every week,” Dickhoff said.
The town this year shifted the display area away from the western section of the riverfront parking lot, responding to complaints of some business owners, like Dark Horse restaurateur Dee Muma, that the event — and many others on the riverfront throughout the year — monopolized scarce parking and interfered with business operations. Cars now use the roadway and the parking area behind the vacant buildings formerly occupied by Swezey’s Department Stores and West Marine.
This is the fifth season for the downtown cruise nights. The car enthusiasts were first invited by the town and BIDMA to set up on the riverfront in 2010, after the owner of the Wading River shopping center where they had been congregating asked them to leave.
“It’s worked out very well for downtown Riverhead,” Walter said.
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Peter Blasl
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