Group trying to bring cruising back to Whiteville

WHITEVILLE, NC (WWAY) — More than a decade ago, the city of Whiteville banned cruising downtown. Teens riding up and down the streets became a thing of the past. Now, the Whiteville cruisers are coming together to bring it back.

The groups is in an ongoing battle to bring cruising back to the downtown area. They say the ban is one of the main reasons why kids don’t hang out here anymore.

“Since then, we’ve love the bowling alley, we’ve lost the movie theatre, we’ve lost the skating rink in Whiteville. Lost a lot of businesses, so when you look at it, Downtown Whiteville was doing pretty good at one time and it’s getting worse and worse,” Joseph Hardee, a cruising advocate, says.

The groups says the ban was put in place after some people in the community saw cruising as a hindrance. Some members believe the loss of cruising changed the town.

“I remember what it meant to me every Friday and Saturday night to be Downtown Whiteville cruising. It was a big part of growing up in Whiteville North Carolina. And I want to see the kids of this town have something that they can call their own,” Hardee says.

Some business owners in the area also say the lack of cruising has hit them hard in the wallets and would be more than happy to see the line of cars lining up in downtown again.

“If they’re allowed to cruise, then they would get to see parts of the town they might not know about and then they’ll come back during the week when the stores are open,” Ken Carter, a cruising advocate and business owner, says.

The Whiteville Cruisers met at Penn’s Grill in downtown to talk about what they will say when they appear in front of Whiteville city council next week and ask for a repeal of the ban.