Car buffs await Blaine County Cruise this weekend

Car enthusiasts will be out in full force this weekend when the Blaine County Cruisers hold the sixth annual cruise through area communities.

Mark Lankford, vice president of the Cruisers, said between 50 and 60 vehicles ranging from newer models to muscle cars and hot rods will be part of the convoy.

“So you can bring your minivan come and join us,” Lankford said. “We don’t care what you drive, you are all invited.”

The event begins at 5 p.m. Friday at the Blaine County Fairgrounds. Participants will register before an outdoor screening of the 1978 action-comedy film Hooper.

Those wishing to take part in the cruise must pay a $30 registration fee.

Individuals who wish to enter more than one car must pay an additional $25-per-car fee.

Lankford said drivers will meet at the fairground between 7 and 9 a.m Saturday for a breakfast fundraiser put on by the Blaine County 4-H fundraiser.

The route and destination vary each year, Lankford said.

This year, drivers will depart the fairgrounds at 9:30 a.m. and take highways 2 and 87 to Big Sandy, where they will have lunch at the Mint Bar & Cafe from 11 to noon. Drivers will then return to the road, traveling en masse along Highway 87 and making their way through Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation to Rotary Pond in Beaver Creek Park.

Participants will then drive to the Triple Dog Brewery in Havre, before returning to the fairgrounds.

Lankford said drivers will stop between destinations at preselected locations to participate in a series of competitive activities.

The stops will include the weight station where highways 2 and 87 intersect in Havre and the parking lot between Wells Fargo and Pep’s Bar and Lanes on Johannes Avenue in Big Sandy. Additional challenges will take place at Rotary Pond and Triple Dog.

Lankford said there will be a mystery location that only a few people involved with organizing the cruise know about.

For each activity, participants will earn points.

Lankford said that when they return to the fairgrounds, where points will be tallied, there will be a catered dinner.

Activities will conclude that night with an outdoor screening of the 2014 film “Need For Speed.”