by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
The parking lot across from St. Stephen Catholic Church was bright with blazing colors and gleaming with shining chrome during the annual St. Stephen Car Show on July 22.
Despite oppressive humid heat, many people took the time to stroll leisurely back and forth across the huge shadeless lot, admiring the long rows of vehicles – some of them hearkening back as much as 100 years. The vehicles and their owners came from far and wide, but most of them were from Central Minnesota.
The colors were breathtaking: candy-apple reds, canary yellows, fiery oranges, bubble-gum blues. The old cars, so lovingly restored, caused many visitors – especially senior citizens – to reminisce about the “happy days” of youth in the 1950s and 1960s when their parents or they themselves drove a car “just like that one there, that 1957 Ford Fairlane,” for example.
And many visitors, as they strolled past the long lines of vehicles, “oohed and aahed” at the imaginative ways the classic cars had been restored back to “life.” There were chuckles, too, such as from the people beholding an aqua-colored Volkswagen “Bug” with a miniature replica of a red-and-white Volkswagen camper “parked” on the “Bug’s” top carrier.
People at the show refreshed themselves with plenty of water, pop or beer available at vendor booths that lined the grounds. Some ducked into the shade of the church grounds across the street, others popped into the nearby bars for a cool one or two.
Visitors, using ballots, voted for their favorite cars. At the end of the event, toward 8 p.m., prizes were given to the winners.
This deep-green Studebaker goes back quite a ways – 1925, to be exact. Frank Vouk of St. Stephen bought it that year from the Eich Studebaker Co. in St. Cloud.
This sleek blue-and-white 1957 Ford Fairlane is owned by Ed and Heidi Vinkemeier of Fairhaven.
This aqua-and-white Volkswagen dates back to 1970. It is owned by Jeff Ebnet of Rice. Note the mini-model of a VW “bus” on top and the VW camper parked behind the VW “Bug.”
This beauty recalled Prince’s famous song “Red Corvette.” It’s a 1960 Chevrolet Corvette owned by Paul and Anna Roerick of St. Augusta.
A gray 1949 Chevrolet pickup attracted a lot of attention July 22 at the St. Stephen Car Show. The vehicle is owned by Dennis and Karen Butkowski of St. Joseph.
Pride of ownership and tender-loving care are evident in the engine of a 1957 Chevrolet, Model 150.
Brilliant, dazzling red predominates in this line of cars from the past. The one in front is a 1962 Ford Sunliner.
On a very hot and humid July 22, visitors saunter along on the grounds of the big lot in downtown St. Stephen to enjoy the staggering variety of classic vehicles on display at the St. Stephen Car Show.