For the 2nd Annual Big Iron Day, the leaders of the car show wanted it to be bigger and more of an event for the general public. Basically, an event to draw people from outside of their congregation to become friends with and share the enjoyment of such an event with. It turned out as a success, with numerous beautiful automobiles, food, fun and a pleasant atmosphere surrounding the event. The only drawback was that it appeared to want to rain all day with a few sprinkles through-out the event.

The day started out with cars coming in, registering and lining up. It was soon known that this would be a good car show with the quality of vehicles that were coming in. Quite a few custom vehicles, restored stocks and a few very well mantained original condition cars. The event planners were expecting some rat rods but only one showed up. If it were not for the sign of potential rain, twice as many cars were expected and that may be why also the rat rods did not show up, seeing as many do not have roofs on them. At one point, a MG-TD with no top pulled in and drove through the grounds. I asked someone if it was original or a replica, they did not know but the driver of the MG had told him that if he kept driving the rain would stay out of the car and that is why he did not stay.

The grills started firing up and the familiar smell of carnival food started to fill the air. The live band, "Repeat Offenders" started playing '50's, '60's and southern rock music. They did a fine job of entertaining the crowd, especially those that were in the tent where the band was set-up at. The inflatable obstacle course and the NASCAN racing was fun but because of the sprinkles, they had to keep tearing down and waiting for the sprinkles to stop so they could set-up again.

The property was full of cars and trucks, with people milling around telling of what they used to have or questioning the car owners about their vehicles. If you have ever been to a car show or around automobile enthusiasts, you know what I am talking about. It was also interesting to find out that not all the cars were local. They came from Onamia to Anoka and North Branch to Sauk Rapids.

As the day wore on, too quickly in some opinions, it came time for the door prizes and awards to be handed out. Many good door prizes were given, many including gift cards to gas stations to compensate the car owners for the cost of coming to the car show because of the price of gasoline during the time. The awards were custom made by "Custom Works in Wood" and were a sight of beauty, made to match none other that had been awarded before. As the last award was handed out, the event co-ordinator John Baker announced the car show over and invited everyone to stay for as long as they wanted, start down to the Rum River Cruise or whatever they wanted. But the storm clouds had been rolling in and very shortly there was a major downpour. I can only guess that the Lord had held off the major rain until the car show was over. At least, that is what it seemed like.

We are expecting a bigger and better show in 2009. We invite you to join us next year!