Saturday the 26th, the official kickoff to the Rod Festival, was a new adventure for the club. For many years the Boulder County Fair Parade was held on the same Saturday as the ColoRODans Rod Fest. 2008 was a little different, budget cuts for the Fair caused them to change the parade date to a week later. This was a bit troublesome news from our prospective. But, what has come out of it was worthwhile. We decided that the poker run would get most of our focus.

If you glance to the left side of the page you can see where the run went to. Each stop on the poker run had twist, you had to play a game to get your card. At Tebo's you rolled a huge dice and picked the card depending on number shown on the dice. Not sure what was done at Bryce's or Dougherty's, I'll update when I find out. Clyde Hodge's, well... It was the least favorite, to get your card, you had to put your hand in a toilet. It was a used toilet, soup and baby ruth's I believe. I heard the thought of it was enough for many to take option "b", pay $10 to get outta sticking your hand in the toilet. Good job Butch. Final stop at Scooter Hinge in Mead was by Joe Lopez, throw a dart at a board with a deck to pick the card you may need. Sounds easy huh? Not entirely.

After all the fun of the day, registration and the poker run, the club held the welcome party at Scooter Hinge. BBQ pig was on the menu with bbq beans and coleslaw, with some yummy cakes. Music by DJ Ted McArthur.

July 27th, 5:30ish in the morning. Those of in resgistration were there a bit earlier. We set up the cones, signs, trailer, and made sure there was ice in the cooler for the water. By 6 the remainder of the club arrived. Some were busy getting the rest of the Fairgrounds ready. Those on parking duty made sure the vendors got in and out on time. When 7am rolled around the line to get in was growing.

Gates opened and with window stickers in the cars, in rolled the first batch of rods. A few stopped by to fill out the forms to get their number and in they rolled. After the main rush, many more cars just trickled in several arrived in groups. From my perspective, things seemed to go smooth. A few bumps, but those were easily resolved. The rodders were treated with a free rodders breakfast of breakfast burritos, donuts, coffee, juice, milk, and fresh fruit. A nice start to the day.

Spectators were allowed in at 8. The early morning is a bit slow until after 10:30 then it starts to get a bit busy. The fairgrounds get busier with many visitors, and car owners. The spectators and car owners were a good group. This is why it's a good family event. Car owners love to talk about their cars, so they did. Spectators were taking pictures, asking questions, trying to figure out which one they want for their garages, and having a good time.

We had a new game to debut this year, Ted McArthur built a scale 1/4 mile drag track for Hot Wheels cars. For a $1, you buy a car and in a tournament you race the cars. I will post winners once I get them.

Door prizes for the entrants were announced all day. There were plenty of them. Everything from tools, dusters, car cleaners, subscriptions, remote control cars, clocks made from a '64 Impala hubcap, and plenty of other things.

By the end of the day, we all gathered around for the announcement of the winners from the various classes. I'll post them when I get the list, I have the pictures. They did a tour of the fairgrounds to show off their cars. And finally, the big door prizes were given away. Tools, cash, parts cleaners, shop vacs, a quilt made from car show t-shirts, made by Sharon Larson, and the big tool box was the big prize.

Then came the mad dash for gate. A few were able to sneek out the back door on the west side of the fairgrounds along Hover. ColoRODan's lined the way out and thanked the participants for coming. It was a good day.

Finally, we tore it all down, loaded up the trailers and headed back to the clubhouse to drop it all off. With all of the help from the members and the wives, a few extra volunteers, it took little time to get everything back into the garage and bit more organized. We then headed off to Nicolo's for dinner. After everyone was feed and beered, we parted ways for showers and pillows.

Thanks to all who participated, sponsored us, donated, and helped out. It was a good day for the show and shine.