Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Entry for the 12th annual Hot Rod gathering in Palouse has been cut by eight years.
Dropping the category from pre-1973 models to pre-1965 for the second year, Saturday's show reaches its original goal. The field initially was extended to allow for more cars and pay for bands.
“Now, we don't have to,” said Marc Van Harn, founder and lead organizer of the event which has reached maximum capacity the past four years.
Between 135 and 150 vehicles are expected to pack two blocks of Palouse's Main Street Saturday, June 4, and both sides of Beech Street, depending on width.
“And how well they get parked,” Van Harn said.
While spectators peruse cars, sounds of blues and rockabilly country will come from the stage; Cold Rail Blues Band plays from noon until 3 p.m. followed by the Barnyard Stompers from Texas going from noon until 6 p.m.
For food, the Palouse Caboose will serve barbecued pulled pork sandwiches – inside and at an outdoor beer garden – and Clarkston's “The Asian Food Truck” will be on hand, along with the local Lions Club hamburger trailer.
“They're a Palouse fixture,” said Van Harn.
Nearby will be The Parlor, in which a hairstylist will deliver '50s haircuts.
At 3 p.m. the Derby Dames will perform on Main Street.
Eligible cars for the Hot Rod Gathering again feature no “billet barges” or “trailer queens” – referring to those with metal modifications bought off the shelf as opposed to an owner fabricating the pieces, and vehicles not driven to the event.
“The focus is owner-built and driven hot rods, traditionals and customs,” said Van Harn.
The pre-'65 limit now reflects the Gathering's original intent, an event formally taken over in the fourth year by the Knuckle Skrape'Rs, a Palouse-based hot rod club with members throughout the quad-cities.
“We included up to '73 because we had the space,” said Van Harn. “Now we don't have the space. Pre-'65 there were no real muscle cars.”
Car entrants – with owners paying $10 each for the non-prized show – come from 300-400 miles away.
Are there any other events quite like this elsewhere in the northwest?
“There's none left,” said Van Harn. “Most are just open car shows.”
The Palouse Gathering has grown steadily since Van Harn held the first one outside his shop in 2004.
“I never wanted to start a show. I just threw a party and this is what happened,” he said.
Event day this year will again begin early, with organizers setting up barriers, preparing the covered stage – at the end of Beech Street since the former Palouse Tavern building burned down in 2014 – and more.
One new vehicle on display will be Van Harn's own 1948 Flxible transit bus, parked to block Main Street at the west end.
He bought it from a man in Endicott this winter, originally purchased new by the Minneapolis, Minn., Transit Authority, and later sold and modified to be Gene Autry's tour bus.
Van Harn put tires on it and power-washed it.
How many total vehicles will be at the 2016 Palouse Hot Rod Gathering?
“We never know until the day of,” Van Harn said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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