It is a sure sign that spring is coming when we start receiving fliers in the mail regarding the upcoming car shows throughout our area. Beginning in late April, you can usually find a car show every weekend somewhere through the summer.

Particular to our immediate area is the Cruis’n Angels Car Club 11th Annual Car Show in Muskogee, scheduled for May 15-16. They always put on a great car show in downtown Muskogee, at Second and Court streets, near Arrowhead Mall. Their group has always been a great supporter of our car show, and we are happy to spread the information for their show, as well. For information, you can call Marshall Walters at 348-8492; Robbie Freeman at 687-0752; or Jackie Tripp at 683-4484. Not only do the Cruis’n Angels Car Club support our car show, they are always part of our Starlight Christmas Parade. We appreciate their support and hope many of our residents will support their show.

Speaking of our show, the 15th Annual Fort Gibson Car, Truck, & Motorcycle Show is scheduled for June 12-13, and promises to be an outstanding show this year, with many surprises for everyone in attendance.

On Friday evening, we will host our Loud Pipe Contest and Burnout Contest, both sponsored by Danny Quinton at Fort Gibson Tire & Wheel. Friday evenings have become one of the biggest draws we have for our show, and this year will be no different. A bit different format will include our disc jockey, Chris Mann, being set up at the Phillips 66 station, playing music for everyone’s entertainment, and making the announcements for the two shows.

As we did last year, we will also have bleachers set up along the north side of Ross Avenue for a spectacular view of the action. For safety reasons, we are going to enforce the non-spectator rule on the south side of Ross Avenue, running parallel to U.S. 62. Our police and fire department personnel do an outstanding job of making sure it is a safe event for the entire family.

There is always plenty of food and drink available at that end of Lee Street, and we will be selling official T-shirts, so there will be reason for everyone to gather there early for lots of fun and excitement. The events themselves will start around 6 p.m. Entry forms will be available that evening for anyone to enter either event, or both, with a cost of only $10, and it includes a T-shirt. Cash prizes and trophies will be awarded the winners.

On Saturday, we will hold the actual Car, Truck, & Motorcycle Show in downtown Fort Gibson. Entries usually total 200+ and come from around the entire region. The entry fee is $20, which includes a dash plaque and the chance of winning a trophy and/or $1,000 cash. We will award trophies to the top 100 entries and draw one winner for the $1,000.

To round out the entertainment, we will have a DJ playing all the good cruisin’ music and announcing many giveaways and surprises for those in attendance. We will also provide giant inflatables for the kids to play on.

There will be plenty of food and merchandise vendors to entice the public with their wares and goodies. I can smell that kettle corn already.

While the entries start arriving early in the morning, the official start of the show is 11 a.m., with the singing of the national anthem and an opening prayer.

Another surprise this year will be the Orange County Chopper from the Cherokee Nation. It will be on display throughout the day, on Saturday, along with the most awesome cars, trucks, and motorcycles in the entire Southwest.

A new format this year will be the Keith Hardware Kruise on Saturday afternoon, instead of Friday evening. The kruise will take place immediately following the car show, approximately 3:30 p.m. Saturday. It is open to anyone and any type of ride. A set course will be given each entrant, and each entrant will have to be registered to be eligible for the $100 prize that will be given to one random-selected entry.

This will give the actual car show entries a chance to join in the kruise with their special cars before taking them back home to the garage … or whatever. The kruise will start and end at Spencer’s Corner Shopping Center parking lot (in front of The Bistro and Fajita Rita’s). We will provide music and vendors there, as well, so following the kruise, entries can just park their rides and check out the other rides.

Sound fun? We think so. Give us your thoughts on how we can make it even better. Entry forms to the car show are now available at Fort Gibson State Bank, Scott’s Pharmacy, Keith Hardware, Fort Gibson Tire & Wheel, and the chamber office. You can also get one Online by sending me a request at fortgibson@sbcglobal.net. Mark your calendar now for this super family event.