“We pulled it off,” a smiling Joe Dvash said on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 4. The Chamber of Commerce vice president was pleased with the success of the car show and happy that the weather didn’t spoil it.
The car show wasn’t a rain or shine event. Several of the vintage automobile owners said they wouldn’t show up if there was a 20 percent chance of precipitation. Couple that with the threat of side effects from Hurricane Hermine and you can see why Mr. Dvash and the other organizers would be uneasy.
But Hermine changed its course. The sun came out, and 130 members of the Saturday Night Cruisers Car Club brought their vehicles. The cars were parallel parked on one side of Hudson Street and lined up at near 90-degree angles on the other side. There was also a display of cars arrayed on the lawn in front of Ring’s Pond.
The event drew a larger crowd than the organizers expected. With no admissions fee, there was no way of gauging how many people attended. But the event, which attracted men and women, was surprisingly kid friendly.
For a one-time fee, kids could have unlimited use of the bounce house and inflatable slide. There was a booth for face painting. And, on behalf of the chamber, Jasmine and Marisa Lyle gave out free balloons with the statement “Cornwall supports our police.”
The event raised more than $2,000 for the Town and Village Police Departments. The officers had a booth at the fair, where they handed out informational pamphlets. But they may have been overshadowed by the other attractions.
For example, first-grader Ryan LaPolla got to sit in the driver’s seat of a yellow Model T Ford. “Go ahead push the horn,” the owner told him. Ryan hesitated a moment, unsure if it was really OK. But after his father nodded his approval, Ryan pressed the horn and out came a loud “A-yoo-guh” that could be heard at the far end of the show.