This past weekend was the Annual Dos Palos Car show. Along side the Summer/ Spring fair, heat and allergies, the car show is a tradition in our small town that you can depend on like death and taxes. Though the show car entries and crowd attendance has noticeably dwindled over the years, the energy and excitement was still as present as ever. The small collectives of locals and participate car clubs groups could be seen practicing discretion by disguising the seltzer and beer filled gullies of Yetis, Styrofoam and colorful Dixie cups that islanded across Blossom and Center street. I particularly was excited to attend because the wife and I got to take our boys for their first time. We strolled through the middle of the street taking in the smells, sights and sounds of classic Cadillacs, Rat rods, and Impalas. The same sentiment could be heard echoed without even a whisper…” Do you remember when the car show went so far this way and that way?” A mourning of the good ol’ days, but not with the melancholy one would except, but with acknowledgment that the car show is not dead, but in fact ready to resurrect in all its glory in the coming years. In a town where the main streets are finally starting to boom, and new businesses are starting to renovate and modernize old buildings with restaurants, bars and coffeeshops, there is a spark of optimism I’m excited to witness in my lifetime. As new generations inherit family treasured cars and start new restoration projects. The small town car show will always be an opportunity to gather and reminisce, and hopefully soon echo a new sentiment, ” Do you remember 2023 when the car show was almost non existent?” Cheers to hopefully a continued series documenting the growth or decline of a small towns tradition exhibiting petrol powered muscle cars in an age of the electric vehicle.
