REVIEW:Old Cars at the 2007 Great Connecticut Traditional Jazz Festival's "Antique Auto Parade & Display"
Sunday, July 29th, at the Sunrise Resort, Moodus, CT
(This page created as of 12/14/2007)
SAAC Presents:
REVIEW:
Old Cars at the 2007 Great Connecticut Traditional Jazz
Festival's "Antique Auto Parade & Display"
Sunday, July 29th, at the Sunrise Resort, Moodus, CT
(This page created as of 12/14/2007)
IMAGE AT RIGHT: The classics came out to play on a warm summer day filled with music in Moodus, CT!
Quick Navigation Links for this page:
Overview
"That
Handbill"
Key
People Acknowledgements
Antique Auto Parade & Display Site Layout
"Day of the Event" Recollections
2007 Antique Auto Parade & Display Photo Gallery
Summary
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This origins of this year's Antique Auto Parade & Display at the Great Connecticut Traditional Jazz Festival go all the way back to March 26th, 2007, which is the date stamp on the "approved" version of the dedicated handbill that I worked on with long time old car friend and super Jazz Festival-enthusiast Charlie Gunn. From that start, a great deal of time and effort again went in to doing our best to spread the word and ensure a fun day for all the antique auto folks. With the free Festival admission that comes with driving your antique auto to participate, I still think it's one of the all-time "best deals" going!
As you can read in the reports we've published over the years about the antique auto-related aspects of the Great CT Traditional Jazz Festival (http://sunriseresort.com/jazz.html), this tradition has been going on since the year 1995 or so, so we've been enjoying old cars with our live jazz music for 12 years. Speaking for myself, this idea never gets old, and I always look forward to it with great excitement and anticipation.
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If
you're one of the many people who received one of those
"Join the Antique Auto Parade & Display at the Great
Connecticut Traditional Jazz Festival 2007!" handbills
photocopied on colored paper, placed in your car at some car
event or other this year, you can most likely thank (and/or
blame-your choice) me and my kids-we handed out a TON of them
this year!
A few years ago, Charlie Gunn and I worked up the basis of this rather basic "no frills" sort of flyer, as a powerpoint file, and since then, we've pretty much just been updating it with the latest new year-specific information (as soon as we get word from the Jazz Festival organization that the Festival is going to go on, AND that old cars are being invited back again).
IMAGE AT RIGHT: The 2007 Antique Auto Parade & Display handbill--click HERE or directly on the image to bring up a larger, higher-resolution copy
Oh boy, did we hand out a ton of them this year! We didn't make the April Summer Knights Berlin Fairgrounds event this year like we did last, but we DID make the Memorial Day Weekend Quinnipiac/Hamden show (ref: http://members.aol.com/cgextras/HmdnMemDayWkndShw2007.html), with flyers in hand, plus several other car shows & cruises big and small, leading up to the "double header" Sundays of July 22nd and 29th--with the 22nd of course being the big Durham "Time Machines" car show, for which we also hand out flyers "BIG TIME" (thanks to Time Machines car show chair Fred Klaus fixing me up in the springtime with a case-full of their official flyers; here is the official Time Machines web site: http://www.geocities.com/tbirdsofconn/timemach.html). Other significant-flyer-handing-out-opportunities sticking in my mind where me and my kids handed 'em out include the Deep River Rotary Club's show (Sunday, the 10th of June - ref: http://members.aol.com/foxcraft/DeepRiver2007.html), the super-big Main Street Middletown Cruise (Thursday evening, the 14th of June - ref: http://members.aol.com/SAACRegion/MdtwnCruz14Jun07OvrllA75r.JPG), and also the Barnum Festival car show in Trumbull (Sunday, the 15th of July - ref: http://members.aol.com/cgearannex/TrumBarnumFest15July07). And, as previously noted, there were several others. I don't know how many pieces come in a case of Time Machines flyers, but it's definitely somewhere in the thousands--and for every TM flyer we handed out, we also handed out a Jazz Festival handbill!
One slightly new wrinkle to the Jazz Festival handbill within the past few years has been including the URL of our "Online Flyer" page in vertical format along the left and right borders of the handbill. That URL is of course: http://members.aol.com/cgextras/JzzFstFlyer.html - and we also normally update that page right around the time we are updating the paper handbills.
Other "significant Jazz Festival antique auto handbill distribution opportunities" during the year include a special mailing to all known Connecticut-based antique auto enthusiast clubs, that Charlie Gunn researches and produces mailing labels for (and also supplies stamps for!). This year that mailing went out on the 5th of June, 2007. And then there was the inclusion of one of the Jazz Festival handbills within one of the SAAC snail-mailings that we produce and mail out to a small local database of old car people and organizations--that mailing with the handbill included (also a TM2007 flyer in the same envelope) went out on the 11th of July.
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Obviously
you've read Charlie Gunn's name throughout this
report, and it's no coincidence--he's really one of the main, if
not THE MAIN reason why antique automobiles are involved with the
Great Connecticut Traditional Jazz Festival. Being both a Jazz
Festival "insider" (Charlie has been a Jazz Festival
Committee member for many years, and though I don't think he's
technically on the Committee any more at this point, I'm sure he
maintains many important connections) and an "old car
guy," he has very unique qualifications for enabling the
Antique Auto Parade & Display to happen. We, of course, being
"believers" in the idea ever since its inception (back
when Jean Hadley first contacted the old Shoreline Antique Auto
Club about possibly bringing some old cars to one of the
Festivals, back around 1995 or so), are only too happy to do
whatever we can to help bring Charlie's vision to reality--both
with our publicity work through the season leading up to Jazz
Festival Weekend, and also on the day of the Antique Auto Parade
& Display itself.
IMAGE AT RIGHT: My son Matt poses for a picture with Charlie Gunn, on the car show display field at the Great CT Traditional Jazz Festival Antique Auto Parade & Display 2007
The past several Jazz Festivals have had more than just me and Charlie working on keeping the old cars organized. I know my wife Diane, who is also a huge Jazz Festival enthusiast, has also devoted her morning to welcoming and directing incoming antique autos, as has her older brother Rob, as well as our son Matt, and Rob's daughter Alice. This year everyone had commitments for that particular morning, save for my son Matt, and so it was a great pleasure driving up to Moodus that day with him in our old Bug, and he did a great job of greeting the old car folks up at the top of the hill in the morning, handing out the passes, and directing the drivers down the hill to the pre-parade staging location, and then running around on the display field at the conclusion of the parade, to help the cars arrange themselves into neat rows (along with myself and Charlie). Thanks again Matt!
A special thank-you is also due to old car friend Chet Balint from the Connecticut Street Rod Association (www.csra.org) who was of great assistance recently in helping identify some of his fellow club members' hot rod rides--and also for his very significant help in beating the drums within CSRA for folks to attend the event, which resulted in no less than five CSRA vehicles in attendance! It was also a pleasure having been able to actually meet Chet in person at this year's Jazz Festival, after having corresponded with him for several years. That gorgeous dark green '48 GMC pickup truck of Chet's is also one sweet ride!
When it comes to club support for the Jazz Festival Antique Auto Parade & Display, in addition to the CSRA, the Connecticut MG Club (http://www.homestead.com/mgclub/) yet again turned out most impressive numbers of their slick sports cars. And as far as Model A Fords go, we also enjoyed a super turnout of them as well--what appeared to be somewhere in the range of at least seven A's--and parked them all in a row, for a most impressive visual spectacle! I know that our local Model A-driving old car friend Jim MacBride had to have played a major role in encouraging his fellow A-drivers to attend, and so we wish to sincerely thank Jim, and all of the Model A folks, for adding so wonderfully to this year's antique auto turnout for the Jazz Festival! And if you noticed more old Volkswagens than usual at this year's Jazz Festival, thanks are undoubtedly due to our good friends at the Connecticut Volkswagen Association (http://www.ctvwa.com/) for their efforts in spreading the word and turning out several slick old VWs.
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ANTIQUE AUTO PARADE & DISPLAY SITE LAYOUT
The
wonderful Sunrise Resort in Moodus, CT (http://www.sunriseresort.com/)
is such a fantastic place for an event like the Great Connecticut
Traditional Jazz Festival! Located on the less-hectic/more rural
eastern side of the Connecticut River valley, and bordering a
major tributary to the CT River called the Salmon River, and with
a wonderfully varied landscape encompassing some 140 acres, and
well-kept facilities (including that awesome 50'x100' pool),
Sunrise Resort simply "makes you feel right at home," I
would venture to say!
IMAGE AT RIGHT: Marked-up satellite view map of Sunrise Resort main features relating to the Antique Auto Parade & Display--click HERE or directly on the image to bring up a larger, higher-resolution copy
There were a couple of "interim" years in the history of the Jazz Festival Antique Auto Parade & Display, where everything happened at the Guilford Fairgrounds. Make no mistake--I am a big fan of the Guilford Fairgrounds--but they're not the Sunrise Resort. I am very happy to see the Festival back at Sunrise again, as of a few years ago. In my mind, the Jazz Festival and the Sunrise Resort are a match made in heaven.
And being "West of the River-ites," we even have the added thrill of driving over the historic East Haddam Swing Bridge (ref: http://members.aol.com/cgearannex/HaddamSwingBridge.html) on our way to the Sunrise Resort--"icing on the cake" for us!
I looked around on the internet and was able to scare up a pretty useful satellite view of the Sunrise Resort, onto which I applied some labels and arrows, to help document where everything happens. If you click on the small image of the satellite map, it'll bring up a larger-scale presentation, where the labels on the map should hopefully be readable. Then click the "back" arrow on your internet browser to get back to this page.
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"DAY OF THE EVENT" RECOLLECTIONS
My son Matt and I made sure we got to Sunrise Resort reasonably early, I'd estimate around 9:00am or so, to be prepared for the antique autos, who were directed (per our handbills) to aim for a 10:15am arrival--or 9:30am if they wanted to catch the Sunday morning Gospel Service.
Upon driving up the main Sunrise driveway, the old cars were met at the top by some volunteers who then pointed them over to where Matt and I were standing, right by the ticket tent, with our old '68 Bug parked right by the side of the road (to add a bit of an old car cue). When the old cars drove up to us, Matt and I would hand the driver and passengers their Festival passes, and then direct them down the hill and to the right, toward the maintenance garages/tennis courts area, which functioned at the pre-parade staging area for the old cars. People parked wherever they could down there, and waited for the start of the parade.
At about a quarter to eleven in the morning, Charlie instructed us to drive our old Bug down to the staging area, at which point Charlie got everyone's attention and gave some brief instructions. Soon we were rolling back up the long driveway back toward the main lodge parking lot area, passing the big swimming pool on our right. A right turn down the hill by the lodge and then a dogleg left & right took us around the back of the two-story resort housing unit, and then up around the back of the main music tent, finally ending up in the main car show display field adjacent to the tent.
Matt and I jumped out of the car and joined Charlie with directing the incoming stream of old cars to park roughly in rows, which worked out well--everyone was very cooperative, and in good spirits. Before you knew it, everyone was parked and had their cars shut off, and it was time to relax and take in the Festival!
As I had to be getting Matt up to his Boy Scout Camp way up in Winsted, I knew I didn't have a lot of time to linger. So, it was out with the camera and attempt to run around and get as many "overall" type shots as I could before we had to get rolling again, and so that's mostly what I'm able to present here. Wherever possible, I've attempted to add some descriptions to the shots, but in many, you'll just have to "write your own."
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2007 ANTIQUE AUTO PARADE & DISPLAY PHOTO GALLERY
Let's start with some scenes from the pre-parade staging location, over by the Sunrise Resort Maintenance Garages/Tennis Courts area...
BELOW: Fine C.S.R.A rides, including (left to right): Chet Balint's dark green '48 GMC Pickup, John Hamelin's gray primer '31 Chevy Coupe, and Chet Balint's gray primer w/flames '48 GMC that was driven to the event by Dave and Donna Yager.
BELOW: Here's Charlie Gunn getting everyone's attention in preparation for the start of the parade to the show field: "Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines!" Next stop, the car show display field...
"Field of Dreams" - Some Overall Views of the Car Show Display Field...
BELOW: I believe that's Bob Howard's wonderful Guilford-based MG on the left...and, oh my, what a stately old Packard on the right...
BELOW: As you can see, the antique cars were directly adjacent to one of the main music tents...
BELOW: Vintage flat-fendered Willys Jeeps mixed well with Model A Fords...
BELOW: The East Granby Lions brought their raffle car, a 1986 Chevrolet Corvette, and sold tickets at $10 each, for a fundraiser for the organization (which they had been doing at many other Connecticut car shows throughout the season). We later found out by browsing their web site that the car was eventually won by James J. Haynes of East Granby, CT, ref: http://eastgranbyct.lionwap.org/
BELOW: Summertime's meant for convertibles! That's Don Hansen's Clinton-based '67 Mustang left, and our daughter Sarah poses with her mom Diane's '73 VW on the right.
BELOW: My son checked out a most unique "mobile vending" setup in the back of a Model A Ford pickup truck, complete with baskets of produce and a scale--to show "how it was done back in the day..."
Yes, the Model A Fords were awesome indeed...
BELOW: It's our friend Jim MacBride's super-neat Branford-based Model A Ford Pickup! Note the engraved sideboards: "Jim's Fix It."
And to finish up, a few more individual-vehicle shots...
BELOW: Chet Balint's Chesire-based '48 Pickup was positively magnificent!
BELOW: This '69 Charger was superb and is a Jazz Festival veteran--it is owned by Alan Zelanski.
BELOW: A stunning '32 Chevy Roadster owned by Charlie and Candace VanTassle. If you can't read the license plate, it spells out: "BOW-TIE." According to Chet Balint, Charlie is known within C.S.R.A. as "Mr. Bowtie."
BELOW: We don't know who the owner is, but we loved this gorgeous '53 Chevy!
BELOW: Another of our favorites was this purple '70s 'Cuda--it looked to be correct and perfect in every detail, right down to the stripes and the white-letter-tire'd rally wheels.
BELOW: This appears to be Ken Adelman's Old Saybrook-based '69 Corvette Roadster. We first saw it earlier this year at the Morgan School Car Show on May 12th, in Westbrook, CT, and were absolutely bowled-over by this super-nice example of Chevy's classic sports car.
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I hope you've enjoyed this little trip back in time to July 29th of this year, to look at what a nice day and a nice turnout of old cars and old car folks at the 2007 Great Connecticut Traditional Jazz Festival Antique Auto Parade & Display. It was so nice for so many wonderful antique auto owners to make the effort to drive their old cars out for the Festival--it really made us feel that the work we did publicizing the event was totally worth it-and we certainly hope that everyone had a good time participating.
We most sincerely wish to thank the Great Connecticut Traditional Jazz Festival organization for inviting the antique autos back once again for 2007 and we hope that the turnout was satisfactory to the Festival's directors. And of course, without Charlie Gunn, we would not even be talking about antique autos at the Festival, so we wish to say Thank You Again Charlie!
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