WOW, what a wild weekend at the 41st Annual Canon Car Club Car Show!
About 4pm Friday, it was looking pretty dim, rain was coming down and, at a minimum, the Friday Picnic looked like a washout. AND THEN THE SKIES CLEARED!! It may have still been a little damp by 6pm and the start of festivities but the sun was out - let the festivities begin. We had people inside the tent and out on the grounds all having a good time, enjoying the fellowship of like-minded auto enthusiasts.
All in, we served 260 hot dogs to our guests and club members. Based on this year, we may need to start a chili-cookoff next year – there was a great mix of bean and/or beef chili, hot or mild and red or green; something for everyone. Then there were the sides, more (but different) beans, macaroni and potato salads, leafy green salads and fruit. And ohhhhh the deserts – a chocoholics dream, cobblers, cakes and cookies. The Canon Car Club crew did a fantastic job and by the looks of the crowd, their efforts were greatly appreciated.
Dawn came early on Saturday and members of the Car Show team were on the job as early as 4:30am. There were tents to set up food trucks to organize, the Nick Donovan music festival with guest DJ Wally, port-a-potties, trash cans and unload all the leftover food and drinks from the night before for the team and our guests.
The first show car arrived about 6:30 and it seemed non-stop until about 11am as the Abbey acres filled with some astounding cars and trucks – thank you Brenda McKay of the Abbey. All told, we had 322 cars, trucks and custom rides registered from as far away as Iowa, Kansas, Texas, Wyoming and Arizona.
We had 31 different makes represented from AMC to Willys; Chevy and Ford dominated with 130 and 108 from each represented. Not too surprisingly, Camaros(23), Corvettes(20) and Mustangs(18) were popular individual models but 1930-40 vintage Ford’s and 55-57 Chevy’s were also very well represented!
We added additional food court vendors this year and located them in a place we hoped would be more accessible for all. By all accounts the day was a success, lines or waits were never too long. Many thanks to our vendors, Lil Smokeys BBQ, Emergency Treats, 8Yours2 Kettle Corn, The Salty Cow, Danatas Hotdog Cart, Mimi’s Grill and Squeeze Me Lemonade. We hope you’ll join us again next year.
The Canon Car Show Rodder’s Choice – our best of show – was entry #162, a 1935 Ford 3 Window Coupe painted a stunning “Burning Brick” DRIVEN to the show from Scott’s Bluff, NE approximately 325 miles.
The table below shows our Rodder’s Choice, Top 5, Ladies Choice and this year’s charity – Orchard of Hope - selections:
See pictures of these winners - and more - in the Image Gallery below!
The real highlight of the day, and the day was pretty spectacular, was the auction held in support of our charity for 2023, The Orchard of Hope. Items auctioned included books, a floor jack, intake manifolds, flowers, a custom skateboard, a one-of-one eagle quilt and a custom Mustang pedal car. The club and our guests raised $4200 dollars and we should all be proud of that effort!
Speaking of quilts, the Canon Car Club presented Wally Cotton a quilt made up of old cars and car show panels stitched together – signed by members of many southern Colorado car club members who’ve enjoyed Wally’s DJ’ing for decades.
A HUGE THANK YOU to all the club members who helped organize the show and an even BIGGER THANK YOU to all of those who brought out their cherished automobiles to share with us all. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
One more thing – please mark Saturday, 8 June 2024, on your calendar and join us for our 42nd Annual Canon Car Club Car Show. (We’ll be sending out e-mail reminders in January when registration opens.) Bookmark our website, www.canoncarclub.com, for news about our other upcoming events.
