City Council Encourages Community Solutions in Response to ‘Kruise Kalispell’ Complaints
City officials decided against moving forward with a potential ordinance designed to restrict motorists from participating in the loosely organized event that has resulted in drag racing, burnouts and other illegal activity on Friday nights in the city’s downtown
By Maggie Dresser
The Kalispell City Council this week decided against moving forward with a potential ordinance designed to restrict drivers from participating in the weekly “Kruise Kalispell” ritual on Main Street, an event that escalated in 2020 and has prompted complaints about public safety, excessive noise and negative business impacts.
Following nearly two hours of public comment from divided residents, the council agreed that adding more ordinances would not solve the issues and encouraged the community to work together to reign in the “bad apples.” Permits and ordinances were brought up at the council work session, but officials concluded additional laws would not address the problem.
“We will continue to observe and monitor, and we will continue the efforts on enforcement,” City Manager Doug Russell said.
Downtown Kalispell business owners and residents brought forth complaints about unsafe, loud and disruptive behavior downtown on Friday nights as a result of loud vehicles drag racing down Main Street and the surrounding side streets, doing burnouts and rolling coal.
Cruise participants, however, described a fun, family-friendly atmosphere that allowed motor enthusiasts to show off their classic cars in an age-old tradition symbolizing American freedom.
“It’s America – you cannot take this away from our people,” self-described cruiser and city councilor Jed Fisher said.
Councilor Sid Daoud – who clarified that he does not participate in cruises – said restricting motorists from participating in the event would violate human rights.
“I’m going to be vehemently against this, and I will do everything in my power to hopefully make sure it doesn’t go to another city council meeting,” Daoud said.
Other councilors acknowledged the joy it brings motorists but expressed concern over public safety in response to frequent speeding, traffic violations, cut off mufflers, pollution and excessive noise that sometimes extends to the early morning hours.
“We’ve received public comment from other people who live near Main Street, we hear comments from parents who have trouble getting their kids to sleep because it’s so loud,” Councilor Ryan Hunter said. “That’s very disruptive to the community.”
Kalispell Police Chief Jordan Venezio said his department sees an uptick in speeding and other illegal activity on Friday nights from some of the cruise’s participants and said there have been some close calls. While he sometimes brings on additional staff to monitor the area, the added pressure presents challenges.
“It’s been very dangerous on some Friday nights,” Venezio said. “Ninety percent of the people down there – they’re fine – but it’s finding a way for the small amount of people who are reckless and finding a way we can enforce those laws.”
Venezio said most of the complaints are not driven by the cruise itself, but it’s a response to illegal activity that results from the event.
“It’s loud engines, burnouts, reckless driving – we have an ordinance for racing engines,” Venezio said. “Anytime you’re in a car and you’re revving your engine really loud – that’s already an ordinance violation. The problem for law enforcement is we may hear it, but we don’t know specifically what car it came from. The enforcement is difficult.”
In addition to public safety, local business owners said customers avoid downtown Kalispell on Friday nights and there’s been a drop in spending, with many patrons leaving negative reviews at hotels while it’s prompted other retailers to close down on Friday nights.
“Every merchant on Main Street has lost business,” Rocky Mountain Outfitter owner Jandy Cox said. “We used to be open on Friday night – we’re not open on Friday night [anymore].”
Proponents of Kruise Kalispell recognized the disruptive behavior that some of the motorists cause, but they defended the event as a positive avenue to bring the community together after it was revved up in 2020 in response to the pandemic lockdown.
“Kruise Kalispell was created in 2020 because we had a community that was divided on everything because of everything that was going on,” Jodie Cross said.
A self-described “hot rodder” also defended cruising, describing it as a family-friendly event and said the individuals who are breaking laws will only continue doing so if an ordinance is passed.
“I really don’t want my rights to be infringed on,” she said.
