Main no drag for thousands

CLOVIS — Gina Hochhalter was delighted to see all the people.

"For me it's about seeing the town and the diversity of Clovis," she said. "And the cars. There's old cars, new cars, dented cars, shiny cars. It's just cars! And motorcycles."

Thousands of people — and their vehicles — crowded Clovis' Main Street on Saturday for the fourth annual Draggin' Main.

Organizers declared it another success.

The experiment this year was to host the Main dragging with the Clovis Music Festival.

"I know that people have been real happy with the combination," said Bryan Boone, who co-founded Draggin' Main with Gene Porter. "We've had good attendance — real good attendance."

Promoters predicted 800 cars would cruise downtown Clovis. Those figures may well have held up. At least that many more came without cars, crowding the sidewalks for almost a dozen blocks.

Boone said he "totally expects" the numbers this year to meet or exceed last year's turnout, a record aided by the agreeable weather Saturday (partly cloudy and mid-70s) and multiple class reunions, in addition to the music festival and a softball tournament that attracted a few thousand on its own.

The overlap in programming may have also contributed to the logistical hurdles that saw a scheduled Saturday morning car parade canceled, but Boone was not discouraged.

There was "not enough (pre-registration) attendance to justify" the parade on Saturday morning, given the street closures it would have required.

The town did not seem to badly miss the event, as the Gearhead Gathering from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday was robustly attended.

"Everybody seemed to like the venue as far as being on the grass at Marshall (Middle School)," Boone said. "We tried to make the event more centered around Main Street this year. It's a continuation of trying to promote the businesses on Main."

Main Street may have changed since many of the old-timers cruised it in the 1950s and 1960s, but it could not have had more life 60 years ago than it did Saturday night.

"The only big difference now is there's two lanes instead of four," said Johnny Romero, a lifelong Clovis resident.

"We didn't have a special day (for Draggin' Main), we did it every night back in the '60s and '70s," said his wife of 33 years, Mary Romero.

"It's a shame it's only once a year. During the summer, this should happen all the time. Or every Saturday," said Jenny Martinez.