Well, if you weren't in Santa Cruz on the 24th of June...You really missed it!!! Woodies on the Wharf was great!
Things got rolling on Friday night with a mellow get together at the Ocean Pacific Lodge. Woodies were parked in the lot, new friends were made, and liquid refreshment cooled the throats of the guests that had to drive through the warm valleys to get to the coast.
Tom Templeton and Billy Parker unveiled our new club banner, which they made and brought up from SLO way. Thanks guys. It is totally cool!
We went around the rooms and introduced ourselves, families, and where we were from. Right in the middle of all of this, in walks George and Kathy Benson from Cambria, Craig Johnson, Western Regional Director of the National Woodie Club, and Lee and Patty Kidwell, President of the National Woodie Club. Lee brought with him a number of items for our raffle. Needless to say, a good time was had by all, and you could feel the excitement building. For those of us who had worked so long to put this together, we couldn't believe it was really happening. It really seemed unreal to look out in the parking lot and see 10-15 woodies parked there. Grins were ear to ear as we reluctantly closed down the reception so everyone could get an early start on Saturday.
At six a.m., I stumbled out to my car, trying to be as quiet as possible, when I nearly tripped over Billy Parker who had grabbed a pool lounge and was sleeping by his car. "I love sleeping in or by my car", said Billy. "Besides... It was a beautiful night. "
I fired up my woodie and drove the block and a half to the wharf. As I pulled up, I was sure I was the only one crazy enough to be up this early. Well, guess again. Rick Strini took first honors, with Dave Leventhal being second. As I pulled my car into a space, Dave was busy polishing and putting the final touches on his car. "You know, I've been waiting six months for this day ", he said. He was amped!
Well the cars began to roll in and it was just unbelievable. The weather, which has been totally weird all year, was just gorgeous. The sky was bright blue, no wind and by late morning, it was down right hot. By 9:00 AM, we had 40 truly magnificent woodies, and they just kept coming. By 11:00 AM, we topped out at 57 woodies, one wooden bike and a pedal car.
It was so cool to see our club jackets and t-shirts with Michael Riley's (AKA Seal) logo on the back being worn by so many. Many friends and club members kept bringing gifts for our raffle, which began at 1:00. Ron Anderson and family brought up with them from Santa Barbara one of their beautiful woodie sculptures to donate to the raffle. Many thanks to all.
The Eliminators, a totally awesome surf band from Southern California, kept us rocking all afternoon. People shopped, ate, grooved and mostly enjoyed each other's company and stories about the cars. It was a real mellow crowd. Many of the merchants commented after the meet what a great group of people the event brought. Our event t-shirts sold out, and we took orders for reprints. It was also really great to have the artist Jim Phillip at the event. Jim is the artist who let us use the woodie logo on our Woodies on the Wharf poster.
Around 3:00 PM, we handed out awards to some well-deserved woodie owners. We had three;
People's Choice-Voted on by all the folks at the event,
Participants Choice-Voted on by all the woodie owners at the event,
Farthest Driven-Obvious.
The winners were:
People's Choice-47 Town and County owned by Jim Zanardi of Los Gatos, California
Participant's Choice-35 Ford Woodie owned by Ron and Sally Grassi from Larkspur, California
Farthest Driven-51 Ford Woodie owned by Lee and Donna Yauger from Florence, Oregon
The day was slow to end, and many of us were reluctant to leave the wharf. About 25 of us went out to dinner at a local restaurant, and went for a cruise afterwards. It was just about dusk when 8 woodies cruised by the beaches that were aglow with bonfires. Hoots, yells and applause greeted us as we slowly made our way toward the Beach-Boardwalk. Of course, no cruise in Santa Cruz would be complete without a pass by the Boardwalk. And just to keep in the spirit of things, one of us (name withheld to protect his pride) ran out of gas!!! Yes, these 8 beautiful woodies proceeded to block traffic on a gorgeous summer night. Billy Parker came to the rescue to drive the embarrassed owner to get a can of gas. (I couldn't be out of gas...I'm showing 1/8 of a tank on my gauge). As one club member said, "At least we didn't have to go collect coke bottles to get the money for gas." It was as close to high school memories as you could get. A little priming and the Merc fired right up, and the congestion was relieved. Good-byes were shared in the street as we headed home for the night.
It was a classic end to a very special day.
I want to thank all of the club members that worked so hard to put on this event, and in particular, our Event Committee:
Dorma Baker
Bob and Robbie Barbour
Howard and Pat Benfield
Steve and Barbara Giosso
Don and Cathy Iglesias
Dave and Andi Wells
To all of you that came, drove, and/or donated prizes to our raffle, big thanks from all of us in the Santa Cruz Woodies!
Aloha,
Rowland Baker
Club Prez and Event Director