Fire up the grill
Celebrate summer at Surf City Classic Car Show
By Eliot Sekuler
For the TODAY
The broad and colorful spectrum of American car culture will be on display this Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 27 and 28, as the Chinook Winds Casino Resort hosts the 22nd Surf City Classic Car Show. The event is designed as a mecca for the mechanical and a celebration of all things automotive, with enthusiasts bringing every type of vehicle including hot rods, trucks, motorcycles and lowriders, to show off the style, craftsmanship and unique features of their favorite rides.The weekend encompasses three overlapping events: Saturday’s Surf City Classic Car Show, Sunday’s Oregon Coast Customs Lowrider Car and Truck Show and the Surf City SoundOff, a competition for sound quality and sheer volume.Registration for the events costs $10 and includes a t-shirt and $5 in casino play. The registration fees are all donated to the Lincoln City-based charitable organization, Angels Anonymous, as are the thousands of additional dollars raised through the sale of raffle tickets.The organization provides one-time financial support for those in need in the greater Lincoln City area, including for expenses related to health issues or to help a temporary challenge in paying for housing or food.Last year’s Surf City event attracted hundreds of vehicles and car buffs and raised more than $20,000.According to Heather Hatton, public relations manager at Chinook Winds Casino Resort, the donation was particularly significant in light of COVID-era constraints that limited the group’s fundraising efforts. The group’s other major 2021 fundraiser, the Fantasy of Trees and Angels Ball, was canceled.“The Surf City donation turned out to be their principal fundraiser,” she said.Saturday’s Surf City Classic Car Show offers trophies in 34 categories including “Best Paint,” “Best Modified Muscle Car” and a “Best Classic Car” trophy for each of seven decades. Sunday’s Lowrider Car and Truck Show, sponsored by Oregon Coast Impalas, offers its own trophy competition and the event’s organizer, Isaac DeAnda, is quick to point out that despite the title, all vehicles are welcome.“Anything that you’re into, that you’ve customized, that you put time and work into, we want it at the show,” he said, pointing out that a past “Best of Show” winner was a pink 4x4 truck.The SoundOff event is organized by the International Auto Sound Challenge Association and registrants vie for eligibility in the national final competitions, scheduled to happen in Missouri in October. Volume is measured as SPL, or Sound Pressure Level, a gauge of decibels. Sound quality is measured for tonal accuracy, sound stage, imaging, linearity and absence of noise. Winners will be determined and announced on Sunday.Food and live music are part of the weekend’s offerings, with live music to be provided by the Perry Gerber Band, with sets from 11 am until 3 pm and food vendors providing a range of goodies from Texas BBQ and hot dogs to kettle corn.Growing in size and renown over the past 22 years, the Surf City weekend now draws participants from all over the Western states and from as far east as Kentucky.”It’s one the biggest car shows I’ve been to,” said Hebo resident Jeff Bluemmel, who participated in the 2019 Surf City show and will be returning this year with his 1957 Ford Fairlane, one of five vehicles he counts as prize possessions. (Others include a 1988 Alfa Romeo Spider and a 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback, which he described as “Just like the one Steve McQueen drove in “Bullitt.”) Asked what draws him to his automotive hobby, Bluemmel’s response encapsulated a spirit that’s universal to car lovers everywhere as he recalled taking road trips with his family as a very young boy.“Me and my brother would look out the window and name the make and model of all the oncoming cars,” he said. “Cars were cooler back then. So, what makes me a car nut? I’ve been one all my life.”Surf City check in begins at 10 am on Saturday and 8 am on Sunday at Chinook Winds Casino Resort, 1777 Northwest 44th Street in Lincoln City. For more information, go to www.chinookwindscasino.com.