Final cruise-in of year tonight

MONROE — Downtown Monroe will host its last car cruise-in of the year tonight, and in conjunction, the movie “Cars” will be shown at dusk.

Reid Helms, who organized the monthly cruise-ins, said the event has been “very successful,” although he still doesn’t have a favorite car from the lineup of antiques, classics and muscle cars.

“They’re all my favorites,” he said. “I couldn’t pick one.”

The cruise-ins began in April, which Helms said will probably be repeated next year. The next wave of cruise-ins will run for three hours instead of five, and Helms said he would like to see more downtown businesses stay open longer.

The cruise-in will run from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Residents are welcome to bring chairs or blankets for the movie, which will be shown in the Main Street Plaza.

— Staff Writer Tiffany Lane

TOPS groups ‘Feed the Hungry’

MONROE — Over 150 Area TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) chapters gathered this past weekend to honor their Summer Achievement winners. Members of 17 TOPS chapters from five counties loss a total of 1,489.20 pounds. Awards went to best losers, exercise winners, perfect attendance winners and those with no gains for June, July and August. Indian Trail, Monroe and Waxhaw chapters were among the winners.

TOPS had a contest called “Feed the Hungry” in which members were to donate food equal to their weight loss. More than 900 pounds of food was collected. The food will be donated to local organizations.

Visitors are welcome to attend their first TOPS meeting free of charge. To find a local chapter, view www.tops.org or call 800-932-8677 for more information.