Skip to content

1964 Cadillac Coupe DeVille - Owner: Jeff Tolley

This week's list includes the Monday Memorial Day Holiday events.

Most notable this week will be the Springfield Swap Meet and Car Show at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ohio. This is the largest of the three swap meets and car shows held every year at the fairgrounds.

After a two-year hiatus, Big Dawg and the C-Town Cruisers are back hosting a Memorial Day car show in downtown Lithopolis, Ohio.

Here's hoping for great weather and happy cruising this week.

Monday (May 22):

Tuesday (May 23):

  • No Events Found

Wednesday (May 24):

Thursday (May 25):

Friday (May 26):

Saturday (May 27):

Sunday (May 28):

Monday (May 29 - Memorial Day):


For the most comprehensive list of future events in Central Ohio, check out the "Save the Dates for 2023" page. There's also a quick link in the menu at the top of the page.


If you'd like to be notified by email when a new posting appears, click the Subscribe link at the top. This is a non-profit website. Rest assured your email address will NEVER be sold to marketers. There's no risk of more spam mail in your inbox if you subscribe.


NEWS AND NOTES

Der Dutchman Cruise-In:

The King of Thursday evening cruise-ins had another big turnout this week. Breaking last week's number by one car with 323 in attendance.

Dan "Boots" Longenette from Auto Smarts Radio brought his brand new 2023 Corvette Stingray to the cruise-in.

Mark your calendars. There will be a celebration of life for Wayne's late wife, Luella, on Thursday, June 8. Wayne would love to see 500 cars attend.

Friday Night Cruise-In Hilliard NAPA Autoparts:

About 40 cars showed up on Friday evening for the cruise-in in front of the NAPA Autoparts store on Main Street in Hilliard, Ohio.

There was a nice mixture of classic, muscle, domestic, and imported cars.

Empty Pockets Armed Forces Day Car Show:

The Capt. Nicholas J. Rozanski VFW Memorial Post 4931 in Columbus, Ohio was the site of the annual Empty Pockets Car Club Armed Forces Day Car Show on Saturday.

Rain showers in the morning got the show off to a slow start. The final registration number reached 66 cars. There were door prizes and two 50/50 drawings. Food for sale was provided by the VFW post.

The club presented 45 "Favorite" awards, four "Special" awards, and a Best of Show.

The "Special" awards included Sponsor's Choice, DJ's Choice, Post Pick, and Most Patriotic.

The Best of Show award went to Michelle O'Sullivan with a 1956 Desoto Firedome.

Cruisin' with the King:

The Mid Ohio Cruisers Car Club hosted its second show of the season Saturday evening at the Burger King in Marysville, Ohio.

The club registered 53 cars with about a dozen or more in attendance that did not register.

There were door prizes, a 50/50 raffle, and a guess the number of candy pieces in the jar contest for the kids.

Each month, the club picks its "Favorite" 15 from the cars that registered. Here are this month's Favorites:

Boy Scout Troop 412 Car & Bike Show:

Boy Scout Troop 412 hosted a car & bike show in Grove City, Ohio on Saturday. Just like the Empty Pockets show, things got off to a slow start because of the morning rain.

The scout troop registered 48 cars and presented 24 awards.

Gus O'Day and his 1932 Ford Tudor Sedan went home with the Best of Show award.

VFW Post 8794 Car Show:

Shaun "Big Dawg" Sanders and the C-Town Cruisers were in Whitehall, Ohio on Sunday to host the VFW Post 8794 Car Show.

Fifty-eight cars attended the event. Awards included the VFW Post's top 30 picks and Best of Show.

The Best of Show award went to Jerry Keck and his 1941 Willys Coupe.

2023 All Ford Show:

The Mustang Club of Ohio held its annual All Ford Show at the Kreiger Ford dealership in Columbus, Ohio on Sunday. Registration was limited to 200 cars and was SOLD OUT well ahead of the event.

I'm excited to report that one of our good friends, Arch Mayer, and his 2004 Ford Mustang convertible Saleen Edition took the overall Best of Show honors. Congratulation to Arch!

Martinsburg Activity Center Car Show:

The 13th Annual Martinsburg Activity Center Car Show took place in Martinsburg, Ohio on Sunday.

The event had a larger-than-expected turnout of 130 cars. Even though registration was "officially" from 8 AM to Noon, some cars got there as early as 6:30 in the morning.

Scott McClure who is the general manager of Westerville Automotive and a regular on the Auto Smart Radio Show was the MC and organizer of the show.

The show awarded a total of 53 trophies. Included in the 53 awards were a Firefighters pick and Best of Show.

The Firefighters pick went to Paul Burkett with a 1948 Chevy pickup. The 1957 Chevy Bel Air belonging to Cliff Warner took the Best of Show honors.

British Car Days:

Quaker Steak and Lube on Polaris Parkway in Columbus, Ohio was the site of the Annual British Car Day Show on Sunday. This year the show registered 181 cars.

Tim Hooten's 1964 MG B Roaster received a First Place award in the MG-B-Chrome class.

I'm going to conclude this week's News and Notes with a little slide show of some of the cars that participated in this past week's Central Ohio events. Other than some rain showers Saturday morning, the weather was great. Watch closely, you might see your car or truck.


A big shout out to Dale Pearce, Dave Bratton, Anthony Musick, Tim Hooten, and Jeff Shankle for their contributions to this week's report. You guys are the best!

Note: Next week's list will be out on Tuesday because of the Monday Holiday. Everyone have a safe Holiday weekend.

Central Ohio Forecast
75°
Sunny
6:06 am8:52 pm EDT
WedThuFriSatSun
88/59°F
90/63°F
91/64°F
91/66°F
88/63°F

14

This week starts the last full month of the season. Many of the "on going" shows and cruise-in will hold their last event for the season this week and next month.

There are lots of trunk or treat events scheduled starting the middle of the October so get the Halloween costumes, decorations, and candy ready.

CLICK HERE to skip the News and Notes section and go directly to the list of events.

NEWS AND NOTES:

Der Dutchman:

The unseasonably cold weather this past Thursday didn't deter 59 cars from showing up at the Der Dutchman Cruise-in in Plain City, Ohio. It was kind of weird to see everyone in long pants and coats again. Looking back, the last time coats were needed was the first cruise-in of the season back on May 3rd.

This Thursday will mark the very last Der Dutchman Cruise-In for 2021. The following week will be the banquet and then we'll have to wait until May 2022 for the weekly cruise-ins to resume again.

Marysville Muscle Cruise-In:

After Thursday's chill, the weather on Friday was just about perfect for the monthly Marysville Muscle Cruise-in at Honda Powersports in Marysville, Ohio. Chris stopped by with his 1970 Ford Torino GT, Jim drove his 800 HP Ultima RS, Ron arrived in his 1980 Z/28 Camaro, and Tim's 1968 Camaro made its return following a two year absence. Unfortunately, the food truck was a no show.

Two more cruise-ins are scheduled for the last Friday in October and November before calling it quits for the season. The weather will be the wild card for these last two meets.

Music in the Park Cruise-in Car Show:

Rained out in July, the rescheduled Music in the Park Cruise-In Car Show took place Friday evening at Stradley Park in Canal Winchester, Ohio . Hosted by the C-Town Cruisers, the event registered about 40 cars. Dale Pearce and his 1950 Chevy 3100 pickup truck received the People's Choice Award.

North Hills Car and Bike Show:

After skipping a year because of Covid, the North Hills Church of God in Springfield, Ohio resumed its annual Car and Bike Show on Sunday. The show had a record turn out with 203 registered cars and bikes . The turn out was so big, the church ran out of parking spaces and had to close registration early. Dick "Hot Dog" Ryman was the DJ.

Judging was done by everyone that registered a vehicle. If you've been a reader of this blog, you know I'm not a fan of participation judging. However, the way this show does it makes it a little more palatable. First, there is only one ballot per vehicle and the ballot has your car number on it. Second, participants can't vote for their own car, truck or bike. If they do, their entire ballot is null and void. And third, the ballots can not be turned in until after registration is closed. As with all participation judging, if you come with a club or group of friends you have a better chance of going home with an award.

Unfortunately, towards the end of the show a spectator's car pulled out of the church lot and hit an on coming car going east bound on Moorefield road. The hit spun the on coming car around 360 degrees where it hit one of the bikes parked close to the church entrance. It was a serious enough accident to require an emergency vehicle. Let's hope and pray everyone involved is okay.

Despite the commotion from the accident, the award presentation was only delayed by about 15 minutes. The Church presented awards to the Top 25 cars, the top five bikes, 10 special awards, and a Best of Show for cars and a Best of Show for Bikes.

David Salyers took the car Best of Show honors with his 1967 Pontiac GTO. David's car also received the Cook's Choice aware. The bike Best of Show went to a 1934 Harley Davidson VLD belonging to Craig Biniker.

If you'd like to see more from the North Hills Show, CLICK HERE to go to the show's photo page.

Other Area Shows:

  • Bill Repp and his 1972 Chevy Chevelle took Best of Show honors at the Saturday Night Cruise at Nik Fixx.
  • The Fire Department in Laurelville, Ohio registered 103 cars at their show on Saturday.
  • The Shamrock Club Classic Car and Bike Show had an excellent turn out registering 95 cars.
  • The 1956 Ford Parklane belonging to Kim Miklos received Best of Show at the Gahanna Community Church Car Show on Sunday. Our good friend, Dale Pearce, and his 1950 Chevy 3100 pickup took the Best Truck award.
  • If anyone attended the Sunbury Lions Club Country Cruise-In on Sunday, please feel free to post info about it in the comments.
  • This is the second week in a row I received an email from a reader who went to an event only to find out it was canceled. Last week it was the Cruisin' Classics Monthly Cruise-In. This week it was the Green Cables Cruise-In. I know this can be very frustrating. Groups post their show flyers all over internet but then don't post anything when they cancel. If I find out a show has been canceled, I try my best to get the word out. All we can do is ask that show organizers show some respect to the car community and let people know when their event has been canceled.

If you'd like to be notified by email when a new posting appears, click the Subscribe link at the top of the page. This is a non-profit website. Rest assured your email address will NEVER be sold to marketers. There's no risk of more spam mail in your inbox if you subscribe.


6

Another month of the season is in the books. Only two and half months of events left for this year.

This week's list includes events scheduled on Labor Day, and boy is this holiday weekend packed. The 10-day forecast calls for cooler temperatures. Let's hope it's accurate.

NEWS AND NOTES:

Der Dutchman Cruise-In:

Although a drop of rain never fell on the Der Dutchman Restaurant in Plain City, Ohio Thursday evening, the weather around the area kept attendance down to 77 cars. I got caught in a downpour driving through Dublin, Ohio on my way to the cruise-in. My black Camaro needs a thorough washing this week as it's a mess.

Jay Vanscoy Car Show:

The Hilliard, Ohio Church of Christ hosted the first Annual Jay Vanscoy Car Show on Saturday. The show is a memorial to Jay Vanscoy, the son of Senior Minister Danny Vanscoy. Jay passed away in January.

The show registered 55 cars. The registration fee was $15 and included a tee-shirt, a very nice "goodie" bag, and a door prize raffle ticket.

The Church presented three awards, People's Choice, Preacher's Pick, and Best of Show. Here are the award-winning cars. See a common theme here?

To see more cars from the Jay Vanscoy Car Show, click here.

Plain City Classic Car Cruise-In:

Chapman Ford and the Uptown Plain City Organization hosted their 18th annual Plain City Classic Car Cruise-In in downtown Plain City, Ohio Saturday afternoon.

The event registered 135 vehicles. Ribbons were presented to the Top 40 cars. There were several special award trophies and a Best of Show.

This year's Best of Show Award went to Dave and Jane Winkle and their 1958 Chevy Corvette convertible.

Krieger Ford Mustang & Ford Car Show:

The Mustang Club of Ohio and Krieger Ford held their 47th Annual ALL Mustang and Ford Car Show on Sunday at the Krieger Ford Dealership in Columbus, Ohio.

As a Camaro and Corvette owner, the hour and a half I was at the show taking photos was tough on me, but for the good of the Central Ohio car community, I managed to hang in there long enough to get some nice photos.

In all seriousness, I saw a lot of very nice cars. By my unofficial count, there were between 125 and 130 cars registered. If you're into Mustangs and Fords or just cars in general, Krieger Ford was the place to be Sunday afternoon.

There was no overall Best of Show winner. Each Mustang and Ford was entered into a class based on model year, model, and mods. Awards were presented to the top cars in each class based on points.

Click here to see more cars from the Mustang and Ford show.

14th Annual Car Show at Culp Lake:

The car show at Culp Lake in Springfield, Ohio attracted 144 cars on Sunday. The show is in a park-like setting so there were plenty of trees around to escape some of the heat.

Other Area Shows:

  • Bob Pool Orphan Car Show in Yellow Springs, Ohio registered 98 cars on Saturday
  • Moundbuilders Motor Mania in Newark on Sunday had 68 cars participate in the show
  • Another big turn out for Columbus Cars and Coffee at Esoteric. Watch on YouTube.

If you have any information about other shows that took place this past weekend, please feel free to post them in the comments section.

Many thanks to Arch Mayer and Jeff Shankle for helping make this week's report.

Because of the holiday on Monday, next week's list of events will be posted on Tuesday.


If you'd like to be notified by email when a new posting appears, click the Subscribe link at the top of the page. This is a non-profit website. Rest assured your email address will NEVER be sold to marketers. There's no risk of more spam mail in your inbox if you subscribe.


7

This week Central Ohio has a jam-packed Friday and Saturday line-up of events. Twenty-three events are on the schedule between those two days.

The marquee events this week are the Vettes, Rods, and Classics Car Show in Gahanna, The Vance Outdoor Car Show in Obetz, and the Powell Cruize-In and Pig Out in Powell.

NEWS AND NOTES:

Rain on Thursday dampened the Der Dutchman Cruise-In in Plain City, Ohio. I received word that only 26 cars braved the scattered thunderstorms and showed up last week.


Shaun "Big Dawg" Saunders and the C-Town Cruisers partnered with the Pharisburg United Methodist Church in Marysville, Ohio for a car show/cruise-in on Friday evening.

The show registered 50 cars. A free-will offering 50's style diner was served.

The Best of Show Award went to Janice and Sam Foos and their 1957 Ford Skyliner.

For the other award-winning cars and trucks and more photos from the Pharisburg United Methodist Church show, click here.


The Vanity Gentlemen's Club in Columbus, Ohio was the scene of the Heels & Wheels Car Show on Saturday afternoon. As you can guess by the location and name, it was not your traditional car show.

The Gentlemen's Club registered a total of 55 vehicles. The $15 registration fee also included a door prize ticket. I've got to say those were some of the better door prizes I've seen this season.

Everyone who registered a car got a chance to vote on awards for their favorite Vanity dancer. Since this is a "G" rated website, I won't list the name of the awards. I'll leave that up to your imagination.

The dancers did all the judging. Their pick for Best of Show was William Brown's 1979 Ford Mustang Pace Car.

To see the other award winners and more cars from the Heels & Wheels show, Click here,


At the other end of the spectrum from the Heels & Wheels show was the Purple Door Cruise-In at the Grove City Methodist Church.

The show busted its previous attendance record of 135 cars by registering 174 vehicles on Saturday.

Best of Show honors went to our good friend, Jeff Shankle, and his 1951 Ford F1 pickup.

See more photos from the Purple Door Cruise-In (thanks Dave Bratton).


The Life City Church in Pickerington, Ohio registered 80 cars on Saturday. Registration and everything else I'm told was free.


On Sunday the Buckeye Rod Builders hosted the 41st Annual Poor Man's Nationals at the Pastime Park in Plain City, Ohio. Just like in 2019, the event was free and open to all makes, models, and years. In other words, it was a big cruise-in. And big it was with over 245 cars. Just goes to show trophies aren't necessary to attract a large gathering of cars. Just offer some door prizes, a 50/50 raffle, refreshments, a good location, and some nice weather and they will come.

Click here for more photos from the 41st Poor Man's Nationals.


And finally, The C-Town Cruisers were out at The Point on Main Sunday afternoon for their monthly show at the restaurant. The Cruisers registered a little over 60 cars.

Steve Kidwell received the Best of Show award with his 1965 Pontiac GTO. Charlie Seymour and his 1967 Nova took the Ladies Choice honors.

If anyone has info from the Cardo's Pizza show in Pickerington, please feel free to post it in the comments section.


If you'd like to be notified by email when a new posting appears, click the Subscribe link at the top of the page. This is a non-profit website. Rest assured your email address will NEVER be sold to marketers. There's no risk of more spam mail in your inbox if you subscribe.


2

Another month of car shows and cruise-ins will be in the books after this weekend. Five months down only four more to go in the 2021 season.

This week the schedule for Saturday isn't as heavy as it has been the past few weeks, and there's a little more variety to choose from on Sunday.

NEWS AND NOTES:

A Thursday evening + nice weather = lots of cars at Der Dutchman. This past week saw attendance at the cruise-in in Plain City, Ohio reach 374 cars.

The highlights from the evening were a gorgeous resto-moded 1967 Camaro with an LS3 engine dropped in it and a white and chrome Harley Davidson motorcycle.

Another cool thing at Der Dutchman was the license plate collection of Kerry Rich. Kerry has a license plate for every year one has been issued by the state of Ohio. His father started the collection and Kerry has continued it.

To see more photos from Der Dutchman, click here.

The Blackwing Shooting Center in Ostrander, Ohio held its 7th Annual Summer Blast Car Show on Saturday. The show registered 91 cars with a few more showing up but not registering. The awards were an engraved Yeti Mug. I didn't realize that's what they were presenting for awards or I would have taken some photos of them. It's not often the music at a car show has to compete with the sound of gunshots.

To see the vehicles that received an award and other cars from the Blackwing Summer Blast, click here.

I received a report that the Battle of the Brands hosted by the GTO Association of Central Ohio at the Big Walnut Grill in Sunbury, Ohio set a new attendance record Saturday. The show registered somewhere in the neighborhood of 240 cars and could have had more but had to turn cars away because there were no more parking spaces. If you have any information on this show, please feel free to post in the comment section.

Jax Wax Street Madness is exactly what it turned out to be Saturday evening. There was a line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot when I arrived at 7:00 PM and a line of cars still waiting to get in when I left at 8:30 PM. There were too many cars to count, but I bet close to a thousand showed up for the event.

It was generally a younger crowd in attendance. There were Lots of Mustangs, Challengers, older Corvettes, and Japanese manufacturers. Not many classic cars. Some car owners had more money invested in speakers and amplifiers than they did in their cars. Air bagged suspensions seemed to be the norm Saturday evening.

.

Click Jax Wax Street Madness for more photos from the event.

Dave Bratton was kind enough to send photos from the Dick Marsh Memorial Car Show that to took place in Newark, Ohio on Sunday. The event registered around 100 cars. Best of Show went to Jimi Marshall and his 1960 Cadillac Eldorado.

And finally, congratulations to Brian Thompson for receiving the Larry Bickers Memorial Award at the C-Town Cruisers Saturday Night Cruise at Nik Fixx Automotive Show.


If you'd like to be notified by email when a new posting appears, click the Subscribe link at the top of the page. This is a non-profit website. Rest assured your email address will NEVER be sold to marketers. There's no risk of more spam mail in your inbox if you subscribe.


Central Ohio Forecast
75°
Sunny
6:06 am8:52 pm EDT
WedThuFriSatSun
88/59°F
90/63°F
91/64°F
91/66°F
88/63°F

2

We close out another month of the season this week. Lots of events are on tap for the Fourth of July weekend. The big event will be the Firecracker July 4th Show in Urbana, Ohio. It will draw between 400 and 700 cars depending on the weather.

NEWS AND NOTES:

The First Friday event in downtown Delaware, Ohio is reserving the same block again this weekend for classic cars. Cars are asked to arrive between 5 PM and 6 PM. No cars will be allowed in after 6 PM, and no cars will be allowed to leave prior to 9 PM. This is first come first serve so if you're interested in participating, get there early.

The cruise-in at the Der Dutchman Restaurant in Plain City, Ohio had another big Thursday evening. Close to 60 Cobras from the Cobra Show in London, Ohio showed up at the cruise-in. Overall attendance for the evening topped 390 cars.

To see more photos from Thursday's Der Dutchman Cruise-In, click Here.

Dan "Boots" Longenette and the Auto Smart Radio crew hosted the first-ever car show at The Point at Otterbein in Westerville, Ohio on Saturday. The show registered 57 cars.

One of the unique things offered by The Point was a canvas print of your vehicle from a favorite photo for $20. Our good friend, Dale Pearce, took advantage of the offer and had a print made of his truck. The end result turned out fantastic.

The Best of Show Award went to Jeff Fortner and his 1971 Buick GSX. Jeff's Buick has been on a "Hot Steak" lately. This is the third week in a row his car has received a well deserved top award.

If you've ever been to an Auto Smarts Radio show, you know Boots gives out a lot of "Category" awards. Click here to see some of the "Category" winners from the show.

Here are attendance numbers for some of the other area shows from this past weekend.

  • Surgergrove (Friday) - registered 80 cars
  • Marengo Methodist Church (Saturday) - registered 43 cars
  • Whitehall Church of the Nazarene (Sunday) - registered 60 cars.

Central Ohio Forecast
75°
Sunny
6:06 am8:52 pm EDT
WedThuFriSatSun
88/59°F
90/63°F
91/64°F
91/66°F
88/63°F

We start the fourth month of the season this week. Two car shows in Marion, Ohio and two Columbus Cars and Coffee meets highlight this week's list of events.

NEWS AND NOTES:

The weather during the first part of the Memorial day weekend played havoc with a number of events. Several were canceled or postponed. Those events that did brave the rain and cold temperatures obviously had less turnout than expected.

One of those shows that braved the weather on Saturday was Pepsi’s Auto Smarts Cruise and Ride at Ten Pin Alley in Hilliard, Ohio. Our friend Dale Pearce and his 1950 Chevy 3100 pickup truck took the Best of Show award.

With improving weather on Sunday, the Moonshine Festival Car, Truck and Bike Show in New Straitsville, Ohio registered 83 vehicles. The car show associated with the swap meet in Springfield, Ohio had 45-50 cars in attendance.

With almost Ideal weather by Monday, Big Dawg and the C-Town Cruisers registered 120 cars at the American Legion Southway Post 144 Memorial Day Meet in Columbus. A lot of cars showed up at the event but didn’t register. By all guestimates, there may have been close to 200 cars at the Southway Post Monday afternoon.

The Best of Show award went to Kevin Foust and his 1941 Dodge WC 40.


Just when you thought June couldn’t get any busier, four more events were announced last week. This makes the total number of June events in Central Ohio at 47 right now not counting the ongoing shows and cruise-ins.

Central Ohio Forecast
75°
Sunny
6:06 am8:52 pm EDT
WedThuFriSatSun
88/59°F
90/63°F
91/64°F
91/66°F
88/63°F

2

There are events Wednesday through Saturday this week. Sunday is Mother's Day. Nothing local is scheduled so everyone can spend time with their mother and their children's mother.

The weekly cruise-in at the Der Dutchman restaurant in Plain City, Ohio starts this week. The start is three weeks earlier than in past years.

NEWS AND NOTES:

The monthly Marysville Muscle Cruise-in attracted more the 70 cars Friday evening. Auto Smarts Radio personality Dan "Boots" Longenette was there with his BADD '57 pulling his new custom trailer.

The Rod Knockers car club out of Marion, Ohio had another good turnout for their Ladies Night show. The club registered 94 cars at the Marion Rural King Saturday evening. The ladies picked all the award winners.

The Club's Favorite award (aka Best of Show) went to Tim Keckler and his 1927 Model T Ford.

It was a wild morning at the Toy Barn in Dublin, Ohio on Sunday. The high-end used car dealer held their spring car show. I don't know the exact count, but my guess is close to 300 cars turned out for the event. The line of cars just kept coming and coming.

If you're a car enthusiast, a show/cruise-in like this is akin to a kid in a candy shop. Almost every genre of the automobile is represented. There were classic cars, high-end exotics, muscle cars, rat rods, electric cars, and trucks. About the only thing not there were motorcycles.

You couldn't ask for a better morning for a car show/cruise-in. And the big crowd of spectators proved it. If you'd like to see more cars from the Toy Barn show, Click Here.

The Sunday Afternoon Car Meet at the Point on Main finishes out this week's News and Notes. Host, Shaun "Big Dawg" Sanders and the C-Town Cruisers, registered more than 100 cars Sunday afternoon at the restaurant.

The Best of Show award went to Frank and his low mileage Ford Saleen Mustang.

Central Ohio Forecast
75°
Sunny
6:06 am8:52 pm EDT
WedThuFriSatSun
88/59°F
90/63°F
91/64°F
91/66°F
88/63°F

%d bloggers like this: