Be still my heart!
With 300 cars and more than 2,500 people packing Main Street and every other available nook and cranny downtown Sunday, I couldn’t help but do a happy dance at what I truly considered a great event. It was definitely our biggest car show since I’ve been the director for Sumner Downtown Association.
Our own Danny Vernon once again wowed the crowd downtown. While I always love seeing Danny and Marsha perform their Illusions of Elvis act, this year was a hoot because I got to meet and talk with some of their loyal fans. And when I say loyal, I mean they travel all over to see Danny and they know some of his routines by heart. At first I couldn’t figure out why several women were sitting so close to the stage to watch, but when I saw him handing out scarves to his fans in the front row during one song, it all became clear to me in a hurry.
And in the midst of some really great cars, Arlene Petersen was just full of classy chassis enthusiasm by dressing in the same era as her 1940s automobile. Plus, ever the community supporter, she also jumped on our Rhubarb Pie Capital bandwagon and had a homemade pie from Sully’s Alder St. Café in the back seat for a midday snack. It was great fun to take photos of her with one of the best looking rhubarb pies I’ve ever seen.
Ascension Productions was back downtown on stage in the center of Main Street for various Grease is the Word performances and an awesome Four Plaids barbershop quartet show. Further down the street another of our favorite quartets, the Four Tunes, were entertaining the crowds in Heritage Park. Add to that the great food served by Rollin’ Smokehouse BBQ, vendors in the park and great raffle prizes and the crowds seemed to really be enjoying the day downtown.
A big thank you to Heritage Bank, Ann Fish and Nina Burlingame for their sponsorship and volunteer efforts. The same to KGY Radio and Greg Kronlund, Trophy-n-Things and Impressive Impact Signs and John Merz for their sponsorships. And to Ted and Jan Hackmann, Gordy Anderson, Eric Kantor, Brian, Jane, Theresa and Carol, thank you, thank you, thank you.
In addition to these volunteers, the Demono Car Club also stepped up to help us again with various show duties. Those are some really fun guys to work with and we are fortunate to have their help.
All in all, I was once again reminded why I love working the car show every year. It just seems that classic car and truck owners really know how to have a good time. From the minute they pull up to register until the time they leave, I love their smiles, waves and friendly joking. OK, I also really really liked the “Pink Ladies” jacket that Ascension Productions loaned me to wear for the day, too. I got to pretend I was Pinky Tuscadero, even if it was just for eight hours on Main Street. And I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed downtown. A couple of thousand of my new best friends also thought the show was a great reason to spend some time in Sumner.
