Dragging Main and hanging out provided Parsons youth with
entertainment in a much simpler era
By Cynthia Miller
ruising — the act of driving up and down Main Street for
hours on end — was a staple of small-town activity among
teens for many decades, gaining popularity in the 1950s and
finally fizzling out in the 1990s. For most who participated, dragging
Main was a ritual that represented the newfound freedom of obtaining
a driver’s license and owning a car. Cruising was more than just that. It
was a pastime that defined several generations and created memories
that would remain with them for the rest of their lives.
Teenagers in Parsons were no exception. According to former Par-
sons cruiser Chris Cruz, “Dragging Main was primarily a way for us
to socialize with those in our car and those whom we might see along
the way. Many of us found it to be ‘something to do’ in the absence of
being somewhere or doing nothing at all. It was our time and our way.”
28 Labette County Community Guide • 2021
The primary cruising route during much of the town’s cruising era
was from A&W at 3330 Main to Richard’s Drive-In (later Betty’s) at
720 Main, though the latter’s owners eventually began discouraging
teens from using it as a turnaround point. Some turned around at
roughly the halfway mark between those two establishments, which
was Bike’s Burger Bar (later Rusty’s and Herkie’s) at 2207 Main. Of
course, as times changed (and businesses came and went), so did the
areas in which cruisers made their loops. Nothing changed cruising
habits as drastically as the construction of the Parsons Plaza in 1971, as
it made two full blocks of Main Street inaccessible to cars. This forced
traffic to be rerouted to either Broadway or Washington, disrupting the
traditional cruising route.
The cruising experience consisted of more than just endlessly driv