Saturday evening was the Saint Albans Arti Gras event. Todd Gambill, the organizer, invited our club and only our club to display our cars. The assumption being that our cars are art and should be considered as such. We even say that in our club charter.
We had 7 cars in attendance. Jim and Rusty Patrick brought “Wilbur” their Austin Healy Sprite, I had my trusty TR6, John Riffe had his fabulous MGB, Kevin Roberts had is Jaguar, Steve Ewing had his Jaguar, Larry and Chris Kopelman had their Jaguar and Todd Gambill had his Jaguar. As you can see, the Jaguar marque was well represented but that's OK. The Jaguar is probably the most artistic of the British marques. I wish we could have had an E type on display but, alas, it was not to be. Todd's Jaguar is for sale and Steve Ewing seems to be very interested. Steve said he's having some anxiety since he hasn't bought a car in about 12 months. Look for Steve to be sporting a new ride soon. Perhaps as soon as the Hawks Nest Cruise.
Dave and Paulette Neil were there enjoying the event as was Richard Stephenson. Many kudos to Richard for showing up. He got up early and went to his fraternity meeting in Morgantown and then hustled to Saint Albans to be with us. Thanks Richard!
Our cars were parked on Main St. right in the middle of all the action. It was a great place to be. I had a great time and I think the others did as well. Our cars were very well receive with many onlookers. Much better than last year. In fact, the entire event was much better than last year.
Kevin, Richard, John, the Kopelman's and I all had dinner at Shuckers right there on Main Street. This is a great little restaurant. One of Saint Albans' treasurers. Another place that may become a new Saint Albans treasure is the cupcake shop on the corner of Main Street. It was their debut event and I heard that people were lined up to get their pastries and they ran out, even though they had 500 dozen pastries on hand. Yes, I said 500 dozen!
The art that was displayed around the city was very very good and the entertainment was just as good. Across the street from where our cars were parked was a guy playing his guitar and singing. He was terrific. Everyone enjoyed him. Most of our club members left before “600 lbs of Sin” were to play but we did get a quick preview when they were setting up and it was good as well. Not what I expected when considering the name.
As a side note, I gave Larry and Chris a clock that I made. Well; I didn't actually make the clock I just made a new clock face for a clock I picked up at Dollar General for 6 bucks. It came about as a result of a picture I took of Larry's 56 T-Bird at the Mayberry's cruise-in the previous Friday. It lent itself very well to this project. I had done the clock modification with a picture of my car so I knew I could do it. Check out the photos. If anyone else would like such a clock just let me know. I'll take a picture and do the modification. It takes a little time but, hey, I'm retired.
I hope to see all of you at our next event. It is our annual spring cruise up Gauley Mountain to Hawks Nest. If you haven't been on one of these cruises before, the sound of our British cars blasting up the mountain, with exhausts blaring and tires squalling is a treat to the ears. Check the website for details. Oh wait, you're already on the website. Just navigate back to the home page and check the calendar.
Cheers!
Bill