What happened to cruisers?

The Boulder cruiser, also known as the “Happy Thursday Cruiser Ride,” was an event where high schoolers could gather together and socialize. Every Thursday, students would embark on a bike ride between different parks in Boulder. The ride started at 8:00 pm and usually ended around 10:00 pm. Every ride had a different theme that the riders would dress up for. Some of these themes included euphoria, animals, disco, pajamas and more.

“I liked the themes a lot. The themes were so cool. I loved dressing up,” said Emmy Croasdale (12).

“I enjoyed how everyone got together. It was an event to hang out with your friends at, and it was also just a really cool idea because it was an outdoor thing and exercise, even though I did not bike one time.” said Emmy Croasdale (12).

“I enjoyed the freedom and I enjoyed the tradition a lot. Everyone was there for the same reason, which was to have fun,” said Sophia Garrity Jacobs “I think it was just a nice way to connect with people our age and be free.” Kids went see-- you would see them at a cruiser.”

Summer of 2022 came, and many noticed fewer people showing up.

“This year they were fun, but everyone set such high expectations for it because of last summer, and then this summer they saw it wasn’t as fun,” said Marcus Zoldack (12), but that wasn’t the only problem.

The cruisers had gone from a fun social event to a frightening and disorganized mess, according to some students.

“I disliked how scary they got and how much litter they left around town,” said, Garrity-Jacobs.

“I disliked how disorganized they were and also the destruction of property that would happen because for a while they were super fun, but then people started blowing things up,” said Croasdale. “The fireworks got it shut down.” said Jacobs.

“Kids setting off fireworks. That was the root of all the problems,” said Zoldack.

In previous years, the summer cruisers never got this out of control, according to many students.

“Previous summer’s cruisers, there was a good energy of everyone being carefree and just coming for fun,” said Jacobs.

“I think it was just a matter of kids not really realizing that they could actually be shut down,” said O’Brien, “Because the cruisers are not really run through a specific person, it’s kind of weirdly anonymous, there is not a lot of accountability so I think people thought they could just do whatever they wanted.” as far as to have Thursdays off in their work schedule. “I took Thursdays off on work. My schedule was Thursdays: cruiser. That’s what I’d think about on Thursday,” said, Croasdale.

When it comes to litter, fireworks, and destruction, how could students change the cruisers so the tradition can continue?

“I think we should have trash pick-up stations, at specific spots throughout the cruiser so people always have a place to put their trash that’s not just the street,” said Jacobs.

“Honestly it’s as simple as I think kids just not lighting off fireworks. I don’t really know if there’s a way to enforce that but I think that maybe after this summer since there were consequences, hopefully, people would not do it next summer,” said O’Brien.

They were a place to see people you know and meet people you don’t. “I enjoyed seeing everyone I knew,” said Tory O’Brien (12). “It was fun cause it was people you wouldn’t really typically

So how did the cruisers so drastically change? It boils down to the destruction. “I noticed that this summer was a little bit crazier. There were a lot more people coming this year than last summer,”