Car enthusiasts would gather to admire the restored classics and custom work on each other’s cars. Throughout the evening, they’d pop into the restaurant to order a milkshake or some fries or maybe even an All-American burger.

For many, the Ja-Mar Cruise Nights became a summer ritual. A ritual that they likely didn’t realize was happening for the final time last August.

On Thursday, Ja-Mar owner Jerry Jordison shared the news that the beloved tradition had come to an end.

The reason behind the cruise nights ending is mainly the Crossroads Mall construction that will be beginning soon.

-Messenger file photo
Another car arrives for a 2018 Ja-Mar Cruise Night.

“I’ve always been blessed being able to use the Sears parking lot and I knew it wasn’t my lot and I knew one day it would maybe come to an end,” he said. “With the construction and everything, it just came to an end.”

Jordison had originally planned on having one last Ja-Mar Cruise Night on the first Friday in June, kind of to “go out with a bang.” But due to gathering restrictions and concern over the COVID-19 coronavirus, he thought it would be best to just let it go.

“It’s kind of sad,” he said. “We’ve been 40-plus years doing a car show, but it’s kind of just run its course.”

The cruise nights were started by Jordison’s parents in the late 70s. Jordison doesn’t actually remember the exact year the cruises started, but he knows how much they’ve grown over the decades.

“We’ve always gotten a big turnout,” he said.

Jordison recalled setting up for the first cruise night in June, putting out the barricades early in the day and worrying if anyone would come that night.

“And the next thing you know, there’s four or five hundred cars,” he said.

The Ja-Mar owner doesn’t personally own what he calls a “street rod,” but he’s loved getting to know the people who come to the cruises and getting to admire their cars. He said every year, a lot of the same people would come, often bringing different cars.

Jordison has had people from as far as Wyoming and California come to the car show.

“Even people who don’t have a car come out and enjoy walking around and seeing the cars,” he said.

Over the years, the Ja-Mar Cruise Nights have received plenty of support from the community.

“I would like to thank all the sponsors who helped over the years to help grow and make it a success,” Jordison. “Without them and the support of the community, it wouldn’t have been able to grow and be what it was.”

Giving up the Ja-Mar Cruise Nights has been hard for Jordison, who basically grew up alongside them.

“What I’m going to miss most about it is when those three or five or six hundred cars show up, I’m going to miss all the people,” he said. “I would help park cars as they come in and I’d spend the rest of the night just walking around, talking to everybody. The people that you meet and find out what they did all year long, you meet a lot of friends.”

While the restaurant would receive a large boom in business on cruise nights, Jordison isn’t worried about that.

“I truly don’t miss the business aspect of it,” he said. “It was just about seeing all the people and seeing the cars and the joy they had in fixing it up all year.”