Cars roll in for Black Canyon show

MONTROSE – Cars of all makes, years and colors filled Columbine Field Saturday during the 12th Annual Black Canyon Classics Colorful Colorado Car, Truck and Rod Show.

Saturday hosted the main events of the show, including over 200 cars, trucks and hot rods filling up the field. Vehicles were split up into 34 classes for judging with 112 awards given away based on both judges’ and participants’ evaluation forms.

“As far as the vehicles we've got, we've got cars as old as a 1916 Model T, and we've got 2007 vehicles, and we've got everything in between,” said Black Canyon Classics president Paul Martin.

The event got started at 8 a.m. and included a Kiwanis’ breakfast, trivia and dance contests, but mostly just good old-fashioned conversation about automobiles and admiration of the hard work that had gone into keeping them in such pristine condition.

“It's just the camaraderie, to see all the different cars and talk to the different people that are from different towns,” said Jack Fay of Ridgway, who was showing off his 1962 Corvette. “The automotive industry just brings us together.”

The car show also hosted activities Friday night on South First Street by Centennial Plaza, with about 160 cars on display.

About 50 of those cars went for a cruise around Montrose to 9 nursing and assisted living homes for a slow drive by to take the show to seniors who couldn’t make it to the show themselves.

“There was a lot of smiles on their faces, and 'beautiful cars' they said as we went by,” said Martin. “Everybody’s got memories about the cars they had as they were growing up; it was very nice.”

The car show continued into Saturday night with the 16th Annual Back to the 60’s Night at the Star Drive-In.

This morning at 9 participants were set to gather again at Rotary Park for a 16-mile scenic cruise towards Ridgway, in which they would have a trivia quiz sheet and attempt to answer questions based on information from geographic and other landmarks.

All proceeds from the car show are going to the Montrose County Historical Museum, which assisted the show through donation of many volunteers.

Martin said that of the cars that had pre-registered for the show, about a third were making their first appearance, so there were plenty cars to see that haven’t been around before.

“It's just getting bigger and better, and we get a lot of cars from a lot of areas,” Martin said. “The word’s getting out and we're getting a lot of new people to come, and it's great because there's always something different to see.”

For both participants and spectators alike, the show provides the opportunity to interact with other auto enthusiasts and simply see the collectible cars that are out there.

“I like to visit with the people,” said Herb Anderson of Montrose. “I like to see what other people’s interests are in and the types of cars that they've got and see what I might be able to get into.”

Contact John Deneen via e-mail at johnd@montrosepress.com