It was more than 50 years ago that Paul Irons would drive to Athens from Decatur just for the privilege of sitting on the back of his turquoise 1951 DeSoto and sharing a sandwich with the girl who would become his wife.
“We’d get a stack of sandwiches and go to the square,” Irons recalls. “Then we’d back our cars up and sit on the backs and watch the cars go by. That would be our Sunday afternoon.”
Irons, a self-described “river rat” from across the bridge in Morgan County, met his sweetheart Betty Phillips at Hatfield roller rink and drove over on weekends to visit. He married her in 1957 and the two have lived in Athens ever since.
“Cruising” around the downtown square was the way teens and young adults socialized at the time, a trend that continued for the next several decades.
“They were doing this in the ’60s and the ’70s,” Irons said. “My son called and said, ‘Dad, we used to do this, too.’”
Mike Scott, a 1989 graduate of Athens High School, recalls the glory days when cruising the Limestone County Courthouse Square was the only activity for teens.
“We didn’t have a movie theater or many places to eat,” he said.
While planning his 20th high school reunion, Scott started a Facebook page and friends began discussing how they used to cruise around the square before the practice was banned in the 1990s because kids’ behavior and litter got out of control.
Scott had the idea to have a nostalgic “cruising” on the square and received a one-time permit. The Cruizin the Square Reunion is scheduled from 6 p.m.-midnight Saturday.
Scott is asking for donations of $1 to $2 from those attending the Cruising Reunion for the Spirit of Athens for downtown improvements.
Since planning the event, Scott said he’s found it interesting that cruising crossed so many decades. He initially expected to draw people from his age group.
“It goes back a lot further than I thought,” he said. “It overwhelms me.”
The event began when Scott and friends made a joke that they were “cruising digitally” while chatting on Facebook and began reminiscing about those days.
He created a Cruizin the Square Facebook page and soon had 700 members.
“It just took off,” he said. “People were saying, “I’d love to go up there and do that again,’ and ‘Our kids don’t understand how much fun we had there.’”
Scott said he’s had a lot of interest in Saturday’s event and, if the weather holds, as many as 300 people may show.
For more on the Cruizin the Square Reunion information, contact Mike Scott at (256) 233-7177.
Local News
Related Photos
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Paul Irons would drive his 1951 DeSoto into Athens from Decatur to date his future wife Betty Phillips. The couple would “cruise the square” on Sunday afternoons, Irons said. (Photo courtesy of Paul Irons)
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Cruizin the Square Reunion to be held Saturday
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