Young and bored in small town U.S.? Try 'looping'

By Matthew Bigg

JENA, Louisiana (Reuters) - If you're young and bored at night in a small town in the United States, you can always jump in the car, switch on the radio and go "looping."

On weekend nights in Jena, a conservative, rural area of around 3,000 people in central Louisiana, the main street is full of teenagers driving slowly through the center of town, Saturday Night Country Gold playing loud on the radio.

In the parking lot at Mitch's restaurant at one end of town, the cars turn round and drive back until they reach Untamed Outdoor Products at the other end. They circle round in that parking lot and return, making a loop.

"You can loop all night, or until you run out of gas," Seth Deville said behind the wheel of a pick-up truck.

Looping has been a pastime for young Americans in small towns since the 1950s, though elsewhere it's called "cruising" and in parts of Kansas they call it "dragging Main" -- Main Street being the central avenue in towns all across America.

In many parts of the country it's accompanied by elaborate dating rituals, understood by teenagers but incomprehensible to outsiders and, crucially, parents.

Meg McGuffee, a high school senior in Jena, said she once looped for an hour without meeting friends but usually they stop in the town's darkened parking lots to chat. Better still, they park one car, pile into another and go looping together.

All the while, they await word of a party or a hog roast going on nearby, teenagers said.