Moose Lodge holds annual car show
By PAMELA GRANT
Cove Leader-Press
21 bike and car enthusiasts revved up their engines and took their prized vehicles down to the Moose Lodge 2029 to compete for the title of Best in Show.
The Moose Riders, a group associated with the Moose Lodge, hosted the Moose Rider’s 5th Annual Car, Bike & Truck Show. The show was held at Moose Lodge 2029 from 10 a.m. until about 4 p.m. The show awarded prizes for Best Bike, Import, American Car, or American Truck. Awards were given to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each category. They also presented awards for the MRC2 Legacy, Best Paint, People’s Choice, and Best in Show. The MRC2 Legacy Trophy is passed to a member of the Moose Riders as they don’t compete in the regular categories, but still want to show off their metallic beauties.
Money raised during the event will be used to support various charitable organizations including MooseHeart and MooseHaven, two groups supported by the Moose Lodge, as well as local groups like Cove House and the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant.
“We put this together to support each of these charities,” said Debbie Pomato, President of the Moose Riders. “It’s our passion. Our passion is to support the kids and the elderly.”
Tom Fleming brought his 2-door 1948 Chevy Coupe to the event. With a gorgeous coat of white and purple pearl paint, Fleming took home the prize for Best Paint. He said that he entered the competition in the past and was able to take home Best in Show two years ago. Fleming included a Corvette engine, air conditioning, cruise control, and even a remote-controlled door to help make sure his vehicle would stand out.
More than just a car show, the Moose Lodge made sure the event was family-friendly. The Moose Lodge sold crawfish, hamburgers, and bratwurst. Children could play on the playground or sit with their parents and enjoy the music. Various vendors also sold goods at the event. The Boy Scouts sold various baked goods for donations.
Bill Nicolaus, Committee Chair for the event, helped boil crawfish throughout the show. He said their crawfish boil events are always popular and the members of the Moose Riders are all motorcycle enthusiasts, so they thought it would be a good idea to combine the two and include a crawfish boil with the annual car and bike show. He said that they always get a lot of repeat customers for the car and bike show because they like the camaraderie. He said it’s a good way to get ideas on how you might want to upgrade your own vehicle as well as a way to just enjoy yourself and have a good time.
Reggie Gray won the honor of Best in Show with his 1963 Chevrolet Impala. Painted a light blue color, the same seen in many historical advertisements for the car, Gray sought to make sure his vehicle had the types of improvements that people might have made back then.
“I wanted it to be something that guys would have done back in the day,” said Gray.
Gray said that he wanted an Impala ever since he was seven or eight years old. He said that his father had promised that he would pass his own Impala down to Gray but did not follow through on the promise. However, Gray was eventually able to acquire his own Impala. He said that he didn’t purchase the vehicle as a show car, rather, for years, he would drive the car every day. Unfortunately, he got into an accident, so he decided to put the car into storage. He only pulled out the car recently and entered it after being encouraged by Bashan Swain who is like a nephew to him. He said that he was pleasantly surprised to have won.
“I just love Impalas. There’s so much you can do with them,” said Gray. Gray said that the improvements he made for the car show were just a matter of dressing up the car a little bit and adding the unique “ok” flags. “An Impala represents America. These cars represented forward motion. America was moving to the jet age, and this car represented the jet age on wheels.”
Winners of the car show were as follows:
John Brown won Best American Truck. Wanda-So Brown won Best American Car. Stack Hanke won Best Bike. Michelle Nicolaus won Best import.
Debbie Pomato received the MRC2 Legacy Trophy with her 1958 Ford Fairlane 500.
Tom Fleming received Best Paint for his 1948 Chevy Coupe.
Darryl Dickenson won People’s Choice with his 1966 Chevy C-10.
Reggie Gray was Best in Show with his 1963 Impala.