KALISPELL — The Kalispell City Council held a work session on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, to discuss concerns with downtown traffic on Friday nights.
That traffic comes from people who cruise Main Street to show off their cars.
While car cruises have been happening for decades, the Kalispell Cruise really kicked off in 2020 during COVID-19 as a way for people to get out and connect with the community.
The event has continued and has sparked concern in the community.
“It is not just the impact on Main Street. It is the impact the neighborhoods that surround the east and west sides of downtown see. It is not fair that my children have to have the noise canceling in their rooms,” said a community member during public comment.
Some of the complaints brought to the city council include reckless driving, speeding, burnouts and noise.
Some city council members wanted to see an ordinance or some sort of restriction on the downtown cruising.
“I do think, though, there are real impacts. We’ve heard about reckless driving and certainly that's been documented with photos and video, and people who are present seeing it reported it. That's a big part of this, and we can't be policing that at all times. So that's an that's an issue. Another part of it, though a big part of is the noise perspective." - Kalispell City Council member Ryan Hunter
However, a majority of councilors were against taking any action.
“The Kalispell Cruise is about as American as it gets. I will not be any part of taking this away from our people, our citizens who pay for these roads,” said City Councilor Jed Fisher.
Councilor Sid Daoud said it is a violation of rights to try and implement a restriction on cruising and would limit the community's ability to drive on the roads they pay for.
“I'm going to be vehemently against this, and I will do everything in my power, hopefully, to make sure it doesn’t go to an actual meeting and if it does, I will fight it tooth and nail,” said Daoud.
Many of the public comments were from people who support the cruise.
A majority of cruisers spoke on the fact that it is a few people who are causing the problems, and most are simply there to have fun.
“And I think there's a bad apple in no matter what you do. I'm just out enjoying as I'm a fourth-generation resident here in Valley. My grandparents cruised, my parents cruised, I met my wife cruising, and I'm going to take my kids cruising. So, whether there's an ordinance or not that's not going to stop me from going out enjoying something that has been something for so long." - person's comment during the Kalispell City Council meeting
The Kalispell City Council will not move forward on this issue as the majority of the councilors spoke against creating some sort of ordinance around the cruise.
However, they do hope to see some self-policing from cruisers and hope to see a decline in issues moving forward.
