The weather was perfect, the venue beautiful.
The show sprawls around the beautiful promenade of a small downtown lake, Mirror Lake, and spreads into downtown, taking up altogether, 14 city blocks. Hundreds of cars are grouped by period and personality surrounded by a festival atmosphere.
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| Included is a small, but nice, classic boat show. |
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| Did I mention there were cars at this show? |
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| A bit of nostalgia. A Triumph TR4, the car I drove while in college, only mine was red. I was a married student with a child and we would place the kidling in a carry-all on a small shelf behind the seats. If you did that today, you would be arrested and jailed for willfull neglect and child endangerment. |
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| A prize winner. Yankee great Honus Wagner's Chrysler 300. The owner, in uniform, told me that the unrestored interior would remain that way because it has Honus' DNA in it. I thought that was nice tribute from a true Yankee fan. |
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| Downtown Lakeland was a beautiful venue. |
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| A little pomp and circumstance as the hotel's waiters deliver lunch to the show's judges. A nice touch, only I felt for the waiters who had to carry these trays about a half-mile from downtown, down the promenade, to the judges located on the lake. |
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| Things that happen along the way. An Hispanic coming-of-age ceremony in the gardens adjacent to the show. |
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| On Sunday morning, we visited the campus of Florida Southern University, a campus designed by world-renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It was a spectacular complex that will be revisited in another post. |
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| On the way back to Baja I encountered, in the middle of nowhere, one of those things that only happen in places like Florida, a menagerie of giant aluminum creatures of all sorts surrounded by thousands of pots, objects-de-art and bric-a-brac. Lord, is my home state weird. |
Okay, you win. The car show you went to looks lots better than the one WE went to this past weekend.
ReplyDeleteHow madly colourful and uninhibited it all is. Cars are gorgeous but the people, the venues, the scenery, everything is so o.t.t. for somebody who is used to seeing thing in monochrome, unless they're green. I have a thousand versions of green.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots Mr. Chuck, now i have to get in gear and show another side of the same coin. With your permission I will try to set up the some of the same subjects from another point of view. We will see. Thanks for suggesting the show for a photo journey.
ReplyDeleteSusan, would like to know which one you went to.
ReplyDeleteFriko... I love green. Spend as much time as I can surrounded by it.
Punch... go for it dude. It's a great idea.
It was just an early morning gathering in a park here in Gwinnett county. We expected a huge turn-out, because some folks from the speed channel were there, looking for cars to feature on future shows. (Can't remember the name of the show ... it's the one where several people show off their cars and compete to be judged the "best" of the crop.) Anyhow, not nearly as many cars were there as we'd hoped. And my hubby hadn't even washed his, so he didn't wanta enter his restored El Camino. Too bad, ("He coulda been a contendah.")
ReplyDeleteDamn! Another blogger that I communicate with named Pixel Peeper lives in Lakeland and was at the same show.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great weekend. Having worked banquets, I felt a little for those waiters in the hot sun. Felt a little sorry for those girls in the ridiculous dresses as well.
ReplyDeleteThe car show you went to looks JUST LIKE the one we went to this past weekend...LOL.
ReplyDeleteI see you got the "bicylce rack" (that's what locals call the red steel thingie on top of the tower) on the Florida Southern campus - good job!
Diane... I felt for them as well. But it wasn't hot. Actually one of those fall days when you're thankful to live in Florida.
ReplyDeletePixel... Thanks for stopping by. Bicycle rack huh? I thought it was a crow's rest.
Great pics, especially love the Triumph.
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