Car show continues to grow

The Northwoods Classics Car Club of Park Falls and Phillips will host their annual car show during Flambeau-Rama from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, at the Chequamegon High School front parking lot at 400 9th St N, Park Falls.

New for 2024 is a national anthem ceremony at noon. That is followed by an engine-revving salute, said Northwoods member Gregg Griesel.

“It's a great atmosphere,” Griesel said. “We're bringing a lot of people into the area here for the motels, the gas stations, the restaurants. Some folks trailer their vehicles up here and some stay for the whole weekend.”

The 2023 car show attracted 97 vehicles which was the most ever, he said. The car show has grown considerably and part of that is Flambeau-Rama, and the other element is the weather. The club has a mailing list of around 500 car clubs and individuals but is no longer sent out because there are so many returning regulars and new people from word of mouth.

There are several other regional car shows going on in early August but the Northwoods show is popular for its 24 classes of competition categories with three trophy awards in each class.

“We’ve got a class for everything all the way from 1900 all the way up to the present,” Griesel said. “There are people that have thousands and thousands of dollars invested in these vehicles.”

Having more classes means that similar cars with different features can compete separately, such as a two-door style of the older cars and the more contemporary four-door cars.

“The classics have a lot of two-door scoops and stuff,” he said.” We split those up just because of the different body styles, different body changes, the engines, and horsepower and everything.”

Other classes reflect the stock or modified differences between the same cars. Other classes recognize the muscle cars and customized cars, the rat rods and street rods. There are also separate truck and van classes for original and modified.

Another popular category is the special interest class, Griesel said. This is for tractors, fire trucks, military vehicles and anything else that doesn’t fit in the other categories.

“Vintage campers are getting to be pretty popular,” he said. “These little campers that people will fix up and are really nice.”

The participants are the judges. They vote on all the classes but their own. There are also best of show and people's choice honors for the spectators to vote.

“They can vote for their favorite vehicle,” he said. “We’ve got a big trophy for that.”

Other honors include the best four-door award and the longest distance traveled award.

Each award is sponsored by an area business, he said. The club members don’t put their own vehicles in the show but some are there just for display.

Another reason the show is popular with participants is Flambeau-Rama. The club provides a shuttle for participants to the festival grounds and the Lions Club provides breakfast and lunch. The participants bond and there is a great camaraderie, he said.

“I know I've gotten to know quite a few people through the years and a lot of them keep coming back to our show and we go to their shows as well,” Griesel said.