Dožínky® & Cruise Night back on Main St.

The last two years have provided some challenges, but this Friday, Sept. 16, and Saturday, Sept. 17, New Prague’s 38th annual Dozinky harvest festival and the 29th annual Car Cruise will be back on Main Street with lots of food and fun for families and friends.

“We are so happy to be back for a normal Dožínky and Classic Car Cruise in 2022! COVID-19 and the Main Street reconstruction over the past couple of years have presented a few challenges but we persevered,” said New Prague Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Brooke Sticha. The Chamber organizes the celebration of the community’s Czech and agricultural heritage.

The pandemic in 2020 and the complete reconstruction of Main Street through the downtown in 2021 lead to some creative ways to celebrate. “In 2020, we were able to host ‘Nožínky’, a smaller, more socially distant celebration for New Prague. The scaled down event consisted of some virtual activities throughout the week with food vendors and entertainment in Memorial Park,” said Sticha. “In 2021, Main Street, the west end through First Avenue, was open in time to celebrate our Czech Heritage and fall harvest but, due to some ongoing construction to the east, some changes to the Car Cruise and parade routes were required. The community rallied and we are so thankful for the support despite the changes that were implemented.”

The Car Cruise was rerouted down Seventh Street NE and 10th Avenue NE, while the Parade of Farm Pride began on First Avenue NE before turning onto Main Street. This year’s Car Cruise will be on Main Street on Friday, Sept 16. The vehicles will gather at the New Prague High School parking lot between 5-6:30 p.m. and will then head for Main Street at 6:30 p.m. There is a limit of 400 vehicles for the Car Cruise, also called Cruise Night. The vehicles will head east of Main Street and will then head south on 10th Avenue. For more on the route, plus a map, see the Dozinky special section in this issue of The Times.