<-Previous                        Go to Index                                                         Next->

2nd Annual Middle TN VolkFest Show

Nashville, TN

By Bill C. –

Guitars, Cadillac's, and Hill-Billy Music … Nashville, famous for its call to stardom, was calling. So, a contingent of your own Mid-South VW Club, answered. We had stars in our eyes. Or were those just the headlights of a 18-wheeler in the rear view at o’dark-thirty in the a.m.?

In alphabetical order, the members of this musical troupe were Bobby & Amy , Ricky B., Bill & Connie , Herschel , Dee & Linda , Malia & Harley, and Nat. But that wasn’t all! We had our "bus crew" (aka "roadies") Rick D., Brian K., and Matthew M. that traveled the day before to "set the stage". Yes, we were ready to swing!

Saturday morning, September 23, we loaded up and were "on the road again" at about 6:15 a.m. Of the seven VWs, three were in tow (Ricky’s Oval, Dee’s Ghia, and my Super). We had a nice trip, with only minimal stops for fuel, food, and "nature’s call." More on that later.

Bobby and I had CB radios. So he took the lead and I brought up "the rear guard." It worked well. We were even able to practice our singing and entertain the truckers. Yup, we had them SCREAMING! I think we had a couple of them that even offered us a contract. Not sure if that was a SINGING contract or if they just wanted to put a contract ON us! But they WERE throwing things out their windows for us to autograph. They LOVE us!

Now, it’s time for the "later." Even though the temperature was nice, it wasn’t nice enough. A little bit outside of Music City, we ran into a steady sprinkle. But not before Malia’s 61 broke a guitar string… well actually I think you call it a valve. Something about a "keeper" coming off (I know all about "keepers" coming off.) and allowing a rocker arm to walk and strike the valve off center. Well thank goodness for those "tow cars"… those "trailer queen wannabees." Ricky hooked up Malia’s 61 to his big Dodge truck and drove his Oval the last 15 miles.

We found VW of Nashville easy enough and the excitement was in the air…. For me, anyway, since this was my first show… or maybe that was just more sprinkles. Once the rain stopped, though, we were busy wiping down our babies.

I am not the expert on VW shows, but I thought this was a pretty nice show; especially considering that it was only the club’s 2nd. They guided all the towed VWs to a street at the side of the dealership where we could unload and stow our trucks. The club member’s VWs were parked in a separate display lot and were not judged. There were tents for registration, snacks & drinks, sound & PA, even "in-door plumbing" courtesy of the VW dealership, and probably about a dozen vendors, in all. There were games for the kids and a continuous door prize drawings & give aways. I won a VW t-shirt, Dee a VW hat, and who knows what else. They even gave away a set of tires.

Judging of the 70 – 100 entrants started at noon. Awards were presented for 18 – 20 VW categories at 3:00. Our club won the following (hope I get this right): Ricky Br. – 2nd in pre-68 Modified Bug, Dee – 1st in Modified Ghia, Me – 3rd in post-68 Modified Bug. I was excited, but it doesn’t take much.

I hope we can do this again next year. The weather can be nice, the host club is friendly, and it’s only about 3-hours away. Look for some pictures on the web site in a few days! Country music star… that’s what I are…