5/30/2007
On May 26 several club members
attended the car show at New Rising Star Primitive Baptist Church in
Vinesville. Over the last few years this show has become one of my
favorites. Hosted by Isaac Gilchrist and many other church members, an
example is set for how anyone, or any club should host a car show. They
offer free refreshments throughout the day, a wonderful lunch,
entertainment for the neighborhood children, and best of all great
fellowship among the community. The church members go out of their way to
speak to all participants and their hospitality makes everyone feel
welcome. The show was a nice way to relax, chat with friends, and enjoy
good company. Once again I had a great time and look forward to next
year’s event.
3/24/07
The weather was just too pretty to wait until April
to host our first cruise-in of the season at the Academy Drive Wal-Mart
Super Center. It seemed that many people were ready to cruise and spend
some time fellowshipping outdoors, as we had a great crowd for such an
impromptu event. DJ Ray was there providing us with some good tunes and
Judy from Wal-Mart joined us for a while. She let us know that she is
planning a big April 21st cruise-in and is hoping the Mayfield
Cow will be able to join us. The club members enjoyed spending time
together and talking to friends we haven’t seen in a few months. Thanks to
everyone who joined us. I hope we will have an even bigger crowd next
month. See you there! - Aimee
2/25/07
I’d like to thank the members of the Heartland
Cruisers and other volunteers for their dedicated work at the Kid One
Transport Bounce House throughout the World of Wheels weekend. I’d like to
give a special thanks to the World of Wheels for letting Kid One raise
money with the Bounce House at this event and for providing them with an
opportunity to advertise their mission to so many people.
What may be even more important than the money
raised, are the Valentine and Get Well cards that children made during the
weekend for the kids who ride with Kid One. As these cards are
distributed, I hope they touch the hearts of many and provide a little
cheer in some children’s lives.
The World of Wheels always serves to gear us all up
for the upcoming car show and cruise-in season. As our members enjoyed
spending time together at the Kid One Booth, we are looking forward to the
fellowship we will share when spring arrives. We will see you at the shows
soon and appreciate everyone’s continued support of the club and Kid One.
Thanks,
Aimee Lanier
President, Heartland Cruisers
June 18
On this day, I got up early and hitched a ride with Bud and Judy Lawley to
the Peach Classic show at Goose Pond Park in Clanton. We stopped for
breakfast (after Judy finally agreed that Bud was hungry) and made it to
the park a little after 8:00. Going to shows with Dad all these years, I'm
not sure that I have ever made it to a show at 8:00, so this was a nice
change of pace. It was a beautiful day in the tree-shaded park and I had
plenty of time to just relax. There was very good attendance for this
show, but the atmosphere stayed peaceful and relaxed all day. Judy and I
commented that it almost seemed more like a picnic than a car show.
Speaking of picnics, Judy is a good person to hitch a ride with; she had a
cooler of sandwiches and snacks packed for the day. When it was time for
the award ceremony, I patiently waited for Bud's name to be called for a
trophy. All the top car trophies were announced but nothing for Bud. Then,
the Best of Show winner was announced, and it was Bud's Barracuda! I
thought he might pass out! We were so excited and I was so glad that I was
with them to witness this. After all the pictures were taken, I was lucky
that there was just enough room for both me and the trophy in the back
seat. Congratulations, Bud!
May 28
Members of the Heartland Cruisers attended the car show and community fun
day at New Rising Star Primitive Baptist Church in Vinesville. For those
of you who attend a lot of car shows, you know that hospitality can make
or break a show. This show was one of the best examples of good
hospitality we have experienced. For a ten dollar entry fee, we not only
were registered for the car show, but also were offered complimentary food
and beverages throughout the day. This complimentary food was not your
ordinary, plain hot dogs either. They were serving the absolute best
foot-long polish sausage dogs I've ever had, as well as soft drinks,
popsicles and lots of other refreshments. It wasn't just the food that
made for the good hospitality; it was the friendly and enthusiastic church
members. Isaac Gilcrest and the rest of the members hosted a wonderful
show and showed a great community spirit. We look forward to attending the
next show they host.
May 21, 2005
The Heartland Cruisers were happy to attend the North Highlands Baptist
Church Open Car Show. Our good friends Don and Elsie Garrett, who
are loyal supporters of Heartland Cruisers' events, helped to host
this show and we were glad to spend the day with them. The show was
benefiting the church's building fund. Participants of the show found the
church doors open and welcoming. We spent the day enjoying great
fellowship, which is always the best part of attending car shows.
Congratulations are in order for club member Bud Lawley, who debuted
his newly painted Barracuda. I brought my '75 Monza for its debut at a car
show. It's still in primer, but I have big plans and had a blast taking it
out. This was my Grandmother's car; and it doesn't quite have30,000
miles on it yet. Paint or no paint, I think it deserve to get out more. I
have to thank the teenagers of the club, Matt and Casey, for passing out
car show fliers. After growing up in the club, I'm more than willing to
pass the torch on this one. Thanks guys! Thanks to Don and Elsie for
the great hospitality!
Aimee
February 21,2005
The Heartland Cruisers had been looking forward to this year's World of
Wheels for a long time. Though we have participated in this show for
several years, this would be our first time volunteering at the Kid One
Transport Booth. We were all excited about being able to enjoy the weekend
together as a club and help raise money and awareness for our friends at
Kid One.
Prior to the show, the club gathered at the Hood's home to work on our
display. Even work days for our club involve lots of fun, food and
fellowship. Thanks to the Hoods for the hospitality.
February 10 was move in day. We set up the display smoothly and then went
to work on last minute clean up. We were glad to have several members who
entered their cars with us for the first time; Ben Arnold, Kenneth Cupps
and Matt Hood. We also had lots of help from our members who did not
enter. This would hold true for the entire weekend.
Friday morning we reported to duty at the Kid One Booth. We blew up
balloons and organized our spot. When the show opened we had plenty of
cute little customers for the Bounce House. We were also selling chances
on a tool box donated by Mac Tools and a bicycle donated by Academy
Sports. Over the course of the weekend many talents from club members were
discovered. Russell was great with the kids in the Bounce House; Ben, a
terrific tool box ticket seller; Bob, who could be a barker at the fair,
could sale a bicycle chance to anyone; and Linda, a face panting artist.
We had plenty of help all weekend from all of our club members. Thanks to
Kid One representatives Lindsay and Summer for spending the weekend with
our group. I'm sure they had no idea what they were getting themselves
into. They can't say they weren't entertained over the course of the
weekend.
Sunday afternoon were the awards and move out. Congratulations to all of
our club members for taking home awards. I'd like to give a special
congratulations to Matt Hood, age 16, who entered his 1971 Mustang into
the display this year. He has helped his dad and the club at this event
for years and we all so proud that he could enter his own car into the
show and take home a winning award.
After the awards, it was time to load the trailer. Thanks again to all of
the club members who stuck around and helped with this. We had to drive
home in the rain, but all made it home safe and sound for some much needed
rest.
The following Tuesday, Lindsay got in touch with me with some great news.
We raised $5,608.25 for Kid One Transport! Thanks again to all of club
members for helping us to achieve this. Thanks also to Lindsay for all of
her help and for the recognition she gave the club during Sunday's award
presentation. Our club really is AWESOME and I'm so glad to be a part of
it!
-Aimee Lanier
January 29,2005
Since our September Run to the Mill Car Show, the Heartland Cruisers feel
like they have been run through the mill. We enjoyed several fun events
and had some tough times as well. We all enjoyed a fun weekend with our
friends from Big Boyz Toyz at their show in Talladega. Several Heartland
Cruisers attended this show and had great time hanging out together,
going on the fastest cruise ever, and eating too much at the dinner and
sock hop. Our next event was the Halloween Cruise at James Barbecue in
Geraldine. We set up a cute display, complete with a witch and a scare
crow and had a blast handing out candy to the kids, big and small. The
next day many of us headed to Lineville for one of our favorite shows.
There were hundreds of cars and a long stretch of vendors. Bob and Dad
walked too far away from the car as they browsed the vendors and we
hitched a ride on a golf cart to get back to the car. We have since
acquired our own golf cart to take to shows, so pedestrians better watch
out.
After Thanksgiving Dad went into the hospital for surgery for colon
cancer. He gave everyone a big scare, but he's doing better everyday. The
folks and I would like to thank our car club family for all the support
through that tough time. You are all the best!
Dad had to miss the Hueytown Christmas Parade and the club Christmas
Party. Thanks to Bud and Judy for taking the Impala to the parade. Thanks
to Mike and Phyllis for hosting a fabulous Christmas party. We found out
after the fact that Ben Arnold had also been in the hospital to have some
scar tissue removed. Now Bud Lawley is in the hospital for pneumonia, but
he is doing better and should get busted out of there in a few days.
The good news is that we are all getting patched back up and ready for the
new show season. We are working on our club display for World of Wheels
and will be volunteering at the Kid One booth. Hopefully since we will be
working at this event instead of playing the whole time, we will stay out
of trouble. Oh, forget staying out of trouble, with everyone feeling
better, plan on trouble!
Aimee
September 25, 2004
This is the day the whole club works so hard to prepare for all year
-
the day of our Run to the Mill at Tannehill Car Show. We were all
relieved to wake up that morning to a beautiful, clear sky. We arrived
at Tannehill and began unloading and setting up for the day.
This process went smoother than ever. The club has grown over the past
year and we have many helpful members. This is the key to success.
I knew before registration opened that we were going
to have a great day!
Our friends from Big Boyz Toyz arrived and started setting up for a full
day of filming. They were a big help at drawing the crowd we had.
Before 8:00 AM, we had vehicles pulling in one after the other and we
were ready for them at registration. This year was the premier of our
goody buckets. We collected so many goodies that bags alone didn't seem
to do them justice. Our first 100 entrants received the souvenir goody
buckets with our logo on the side. These first 100 entrants were also
presented with dash plaques. We had lots of door prizes to give away as
well. We were busy giving these away all day long.
We had T'shirts for sale, which sold like hot cakes.
We also had 50/50
tickets for sale. Included in the 50/50 pot, were chances to win several
special prizes - a large picnic umbrella, a Matco train set and handmade
Alabama and Auburn bunnies. Ticket sales went great!
Around 10:00 AM, our friends from Kid One arrived.
Kid One
representative, Holly Lollar was there as well as some of their drivers
who brought several families to the show. Our club members made sure
the families had plenty to eat and had a great time at the show. The Kid
One kids got to choose their favorite vehicle of the show and they
seemed to have a great time doing this.
Before the families left for
the day, we presented Holly with a check for $1,000.
This was a grant
check that our friends from Wal-Mart donated. Holly stayed with us for
the rest of the show and pitched in to help with the door prizes or
wherever else she was needed. It was great to have her with us!
After the club members had the chance to have a quick bite to eat, we
played a few games. The push rod drop is one of the crowd favorites.
We
also had a fan belt toss, hula hoop contest and a heaviest purse
contest.
Around 3:00 PM we were ready for the award presentation. We drew for our
50/50 prize and money winners, then moved on to the
Top 25 and Specialty
awards. Barry Miller from Big Boyz Toyz was presented the
Hard Luck
prize. He was a good sport and, again, we are thankful for the support
he has given our club. Russell surprised me at the award ceremony with a
Thank You plaque from the club members. This was so sweet and got me all
teared up. Thanks should go to all our hard working club members who
made this show possible. We had the best show ever this year because of
the great team we are.
Thanks also to all of our
sponsors. RSH Construction , George Painting
and Decorating and Landmark Credit Union were some of our biggest
sponsors and we appreciate their continued support of our club and our
charities. Ray stayed busy announcing all of our sponsors throughout the
day.
Special thanks to all of our friends who registered for this show. They
helped us raise a lot of money for Kid One. Those of us involved in this
hobby are fortunate enough to have cars we drive for leisure. It is such a great feeling that we can use this hobby to help others, like the Kid
One families. Thanks to everyone who made this possible.
After the show we packed up and headed for the cruise-in. We had a great
crowd. Lots of people who attended the show also joined us for the
cruise-in. Judy from Wal-Mart and the Wal-Mart manager were there and
they presented Dee Roper with the
Wal-Mart Manager's Choice award for
her 1964 Chevy Impala. We presented our friends from Wal-Mart with a
Thank You plaque for all they have done to support us this year. We
gave away lots of door prizes that were donated by Wal-Mart. We had
another good 50/50 pot that helped us raise more money for Kid One.
Thanks to everyone who supports our club throughout the year by not only
attending our car show but by attending our cruise-ins month after
month, sometimes even in the rain. Your support is much appreciated and
we look forward to seeing you all at the cruise-ins when we start them
back next Spring!
08-21-2004
This was the day of the Oak Grove Band Boosters Car Show. Our club
members, Mike, Phyllis and Matthew Hood, helped put on this show. It was
important to the club to show our support. We had a great turnout of club
members for this event. Even a few members who were not able to enter
their cars still showed up to spend the day with us and show their
support. The Hoods did a great job with this show. Participants received
dash plaques and goodie bags. I believe most , if not all, participants
won door prizes. At the end of the show, several trophies were given away,
including one for club participation. I'm proud to say that the Heartland
Cruisers won this award. We couldn't have done this at a better place. The
Hoods did a great job with this event and I'm so glad the club members
showed our support. Great job!
08-14-2004
Dad and I attended the Varner's Factory Custom Paint and Body Car and Bike
Show in downtown Bessemer. We met up with Mark and Jennie as well as Don
and Elsie Garrett, who we enjoyed spending the afternoon with.
The show had a nice turn out, including several cars we had not seen
before. The Varner's had lots of great food for sale. I think we all
filled up on fried catfish and corn on the cob. After lunch, we relaxed a
while and listened to the R&B music that was played. We found out that
Mark and Elsie really knew how to "get down." Elsie and I both won door
prizes. I believe everyone in our group won a trophy. Mark and Jennie even
won best of show and took home a huge trophy.
Dad and I left the show, picked up my mother and headed for Lincoln for a
cruise-in. Barry Miller from Big Boyz Toyz was there and he recommended
that we eat at the Race City Cafe. When Mike and Phyllis got there, we all
went in to eat. After dinner we relaxed at the cruise-in.
Barry gave our September 25 car show at Tannehill several good plugs. I
won another nice door prize. The cruise-in was a great way to end the
long, but fun day.
07-26-2004
Thanks to everyone for helping make our July 24th cruise-in the best one
ever. Special thanks to Big Boyz Toyz for filming a show at our cruise-in.
This helped us draw a huge crowd. We had many people join us for this
cruise-in for the first time. I hope everyone who attended had a great
time. Thanks to Judy Murray, our activities director with the Academy
Drive Wal-Mart Super Center. She took care of all of us. She provided us
with a buggy full of cold water and sodas and also gave us a Shrek Donkey
to give away as well as several gift certificates. She also provided the
Big Boyz Toyz crew with cold water and extra chairs. I also want to thank
all of the members of Heartland Cruisers for pitching in and helping out
at this event. This event was bigger than ever and we had a lot of extra
activity so it was great to have so many enthusiastic club members working
hard to keep everything running smooth. I especially want to thank all of
our particapants, our loyal friends who show up every month and all the
first timers who we hope we will make this fourth Saturday night cruise-in
a regular event to attend.
In addition to saying thank you, I also have some good news to report. We
had $221.00 in the 50/50 pot. That means Kid One Transport will get
$110.50. This helped us make up for the rainy cruise-in we had last month.
Thanks to everyone who donated to this. We pulled two tickets out of the
50/50 tickets. One was for the winner of the Shrek Donkey. Billy Parker
won that one. Jokes ensued. DJ Ray then pulled the ticket for the winner
of the money. Billy Parker won again! It pays to be generous and buy lots
of tickets! Thanks Billy!
We also had a lot of participation in the push rod drop game. So much so,
that we didn't have time for any of the other games. We will start earlier
next month so we can play more. We gave away gift certificates to our
lucky winners. Thanks to everyone who played! The best of the good news is
that Big Boyz Toyz plans on coming back again and filming more shows
sometime soon. Thanks to Barry Miller for interviewing Russell Jackson
from Kid One and giving them such good publicity. He also pulled me into
that interview so I could plug the club and the car show. Sigh. Thanks.
Thanks to everyone for helping us make such a good impression!
06-08-2004
The folks and I realized that several members of the club had never been
to the 5th Saturday night cruise-in at Geraldine at James Barbecue. On May
29, we just had to take a few of them with us. It was Melanie Stewart's
birthday so she went along with us to kick off her new year. We ate soon
after we arrived to beat the crowd. We all ate too much, as usual.
We had a great time looking at different cars than the local Birmingham
ones we see all the time. Melanie was proud of how well her car
identification skills kicked in. She pointed out a '55 Chevy and a Corvair,
to name a couple. Several of us participated in the fan belt toss. Linda
Carver, her first time to ever play, won the ladies competition. The next
time this game is played at an event we attend, watch out, Linda's playin'
to win! Before we went home, we went back in the restaurant to have some
peanut butter pie. Bill and Amanda left before we had the pie, but Bill
called while we were eating so we could tell him how good it was. We had
a fun night, and I hope Melanie had agreat birthday!
Aimee
05-15-2004
On May 15 several members of the Heartland Cruisers attended the North
Highlands Baptist Church 3rd Annual Car and Truck Show. Our good friend
Elsie Garrett (Don, too) helped host this fundraiser. In fact, we all
referred to it as "Elsie's Show." We all had a great time. There were
arts and crafts, a bake sale, hamburgers and hot dogs and lots of live
entertainment, including an Elvis impersonator. On a side note, Dad, Mike
and Mark all showed up to this show wearing their World of Wheels
T-shirts. I think they may have called each other that morning before they
left. And you all thought women were bad. The funny thing is that all
three ended up somehow soiling these shirts throughout the day. With Dad
it was coffee, Mark's was chocolate and Mike's was ink. Several of the
ladies in the club keep hand wipes with us and it seems they are not just
for the kids. You can't take these guys anywhere!
Back to the show, several of our members took home door prizes and
trophies along with the stains.
We enjoyed it, Elsie!
05-10-2004
Heartland Cruisers members attended the Cruise to the Crest Car Show on
May 8th at Ridgecrest Baptist Church . Our friends from the World of
Wheels Sonny and Deborah McClean and Tommy and Darcy Godwin helped put on this show.
My parents and I were almost at the show that morning when Dad's cell
phone rang. It was a desperate plea from Phyllis Hood who had blown out
her flip flop (Shameless Jimmy Buffett reference). So we stopped at a
store to buy her a new pair. You never know what kind of errands you may
have to run with our group. We arrived at the show with her shoes and
were glad to see a couple of canopies already set up so we could get
into the shade. The church had a very nice show with music, good food,
including moon pies, and lots of door prizes. They also had a prize
wheel for people to spin and win a variety of items. Phyllis and I both
won nice picnic plate sets. We talked our neighbor Roy into entering the
show with his 1964 Impala. I think this is the first show he has been to
with us. He won tickets to an Atlanta Braves game! He's hooked now, so
we will be seeing him at a lot more shows! Mike and Mark both won
awards for their cars and we all had a nice time.
Aimee
04-24-2004
The Heartland Cruisers
hosted our second cruise-in of the season at the
SuperCenter on Academy Drive. I was away on business and was sad not to
be there. Everyone has told me how great it was! We had lots of vehicles
in attendance and had a good 50/50 pot for Kid One Transport. Russell
Jackson of Kid One was there with his little boy. Once again, we gave
away lots of nice door prizes and gift certificates. DJ Ray was there
playing his tunes and everyone had a great time. Thanks to all the club
members who helped out and worked as a team to host another great event.
Thanks also to everyone who joined us. I hope the crowds continue to
build throughout the season. I missed you all!
Aimee
04-17-2004
On April 17 members of the Heartland Cruisers attended the car show at
Thompson High School. Dad and I were both sick and couldn't go. I did
get a report from members Bob and Linda Carver who placed in the Top 25.
Mark and Jennie Byrd also made the Top 25 and won Best of Show. The show
had live music throughout the day, including the Thompson High School
Band and people playing the bagpipes. There was also plenty of
activities for children. Our members had a great time and I hate Dad and
I missed out on this. Did anyone peek under the bagpipe players skirts?
Aimee
04-10-2004
On April 10 the club had a great time at the Central Alabama Rod and
Custom Show at Serra Toyota in Center Point. We had one brief rain shower,
but we didn't let that spoil our good time. We had fun playing games and
Mark even won the fan belt toss. David made the final four in the commode
race. That's right... the commode race. If anyone has a picture of that,
please email it to me!
Click Here to
read full story and Pictures
04-07-2004
On April 3 several
members of the Heartland Cruisers attended the car
show at Chelsea High School, which helped raise money for the softball
team. This was the first local outdoor show we have attended this year
and we were glad to enjoy the nice day in the company of so many of our
friends.
Click Here to
read full story and Pictures
03-29-2004
A friend of
mine spoke to me the other day about a dilemma she was having with wanting
to find a way to serve her community although she has very little free
time or a lot of money. As I was talking to her about this I realized how
fortunate I am to be part of a hobby that serves the community on some
level at nearly every event. Most of the car shows and cruise-ins we
attend each weekend are fundraising events for different charities. We
also bring in revenue to the towns of the shows and cruise-ins by shopping
in the local stores, purchasing gas and staying in hotels. We are able to
enjoy our hobby of car collecting and restoration while at the same time
giving something back to the community.
Click
Here to read
full story
03/22/2004
The Heartland Cruisers have had a great start
to 2004. The club worked on our display for the February 6-8 World of
Wheels, in which club members Mike Hood, 1930 Ford; Mark Byrd, 1935 Ford;
David Nichols, 1981 Camaro; and myself with my 1962 Impala entered. Thanks
to Mike for letting us use his antique gas pumps in the display. It looked
great and we were complemented on it all weekend. Congratulations to Mike,
Mark and David for placing 1st in their ISCA divisions. I received a
runner's up award for my Gold Star class. The biggest congratulations goes
to the club for winning 2nd place for best club display. This is the first
time we have ever placed in this category.
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read full story and Pictures
