Easter Weekend has come and gone and with it, Saskatoon’s longest running annual Easter Weekend spectacular- The Draggins Rod & Custom Car Show. I love this event in a ‘circle of life’ kind of way, because, as my father used to take me, I now take my son…and my father. (#tradition) So, for the 11th year now, three generations of us male Andersons journeyed up and down the rows of classic automobiles as my Dad told me stories about the old cars themselves while I told stories to y son about old car shows (One year Batman came with the Batmobile!)
If the picture I’m painting doesn’t seem to quite fall under the banner of “family fun”, it should be noted that many of the car enthusiasts hand out Easter candy, which allows my son to treat the car show like a second Halloween… and I’m fine with that. While adults sitting on lawn chairs…indoors…and handing my child candy seems funny when I type it, it’s become an anticipated perk.
Before I continue, it should be noted that this entire two-day event is a HUGE fundraiser for Camp Easter Seal-the only completely wheelchair accessible camp facility in Saskatchewan. The place is truly an inspiring collision of technology and smiles.
But back to the Car Show.
There’s also a perimeter of venders selling their car-related wares and one my earliest memories of the car show is awkwardly pretending I didn’t see the bumper stickers and garage posters that…celebrated the female form in a less than tasteful light…but in 2017 as I walk around the tables of hood ornaments and mud flaps, I’m proud to report that all that sexist merchandise seems to be a thing of the past…which is a nice reminder of gender progression.
Then comes what I call ‘The Main Event’
In the back corner stands the largest display of Hotwheels/mini-cars I have ever seen.
Even though I’m not a ‘car guy’, this stuff makes me beyond giddy. A few years back my son triumphantly purchased a tiny Mystery Machine, (the famed green Scooby-Doo van) the same year my father triumphantly purchased a tiny ‘Christine’ (a 1958 Plymouth Fury from the Stephen King book/movie called….wait for it….’Christine’). This year I saw a tiny Delorean from ‘Back To The Future’, tiny Star Trek ships and even a tiny Flintstone’s mobile….but every year I take a beat and stand in awe of a mini camouflage van from the movie ‘Blair Witch 2’.
(You think I’m about to zig, but here comes the zag)
If you don’t know, BW2 was not only one of the worst sequels ever made….it’s straight-up one of the worst movies ever made…but there I stand, every year, coming to terms that despite its epic across-the-board failure, someone…somewhere…was still given the green-light to produce a toy of the movie character’s unremarkable camouflage van.
If THAT doesn’t strangely inspire you to reach for your own dreams and goals, brother…I don’t know what possibly can.
