California Baptist University’s club, Cars and Cones, a sister event to Cars and Coffee, hosted an event at the Yeager parking lot on Sept. 14 at 7 p.m.
Attending the Cars and Cones event is a great way to see the community’s most prized vehicles. Students across campus might have seen announcements about the event, but many attendees said they primarily heard about it through word of mouth. Social media was also used as a key advertising method.
James Survey, a junior marketing major, said, “The big difference between Cars and Coffee and Cars and Cones is the timing, for one. Cars and Coffee are usually in the morning, like 9 a.m., and the Cones event is at night.”
CBU Community Life partnered with CBU Cruise, one of the car clubs on campus, for this event. The idea was to create a CBU version of a similar SoCal event in Orange County.
According to the Cars and Coffee website in Orange County, “South OC Cars and Coffee attracts between 1,500 and 3,500 vehicles each week, including hypercars, supercars, exotics, vintage, classic, muscle, and sports cars, hot rods, rat rods, pickups, 4x4s, and motorcycles. There is no registration required, and spectators are welcome!”
Survey also noted that turnout for Cars and Coffee is usually lower because of its early morning timing.
“The Cars and Coffee event was smaller, I think, because of how early it was. I would say a lot of people came for the ice cream, but also there were a large number of car enthusiasts who met to share their interest in cars,” Survey said.
Many people attended the event to enjoy the car community. Sam Hromyk, Kaleb McKinney, and Ben Zavadil, students at CBU, mentioned that the event is a way to express a niche interest in cars.
John Freese, director of Safety Services, said, “The car community is inclusive and brings all kinds of people together.”
Drivers were eager to offer insights into their vehicles and welcomed newcomers into car culture. Many showcased their engines and provided detailed descriptions of the innovative technology within their cars. The event drew not only CBU students but also high schoolers, parents, and community members.
Janea Caparros, president of CBU Cruise, added that she hopes the club and event will continue to grow, as it is still relatively new, having started only two years ago.
In the end, Cars and Cones was all about bringing like-minded individuals together to celebrate a unique niche in the community, with ice cream as a sweet bonus on the side.
