Small Town Car Show

[Taylormade]

I live in the small town of Pana, Illinois.  It's a typical mid-western sort of place, kind of sleepy, laid back and quiet.  It used to be the Rose Capitol of America, with dozens of massive greenhouses growing roses for florists across the country.  They are all gone now, along with a small refinery, the coal mines and a time-clock factory.    We still have a decent Main Street, with a movie theater, auto parts stores and the usual assortment of shops, bars and restaurants.  The two main industries that support the town and employ most of the people are the High School and the farmers.  We grow a heck of a lot of corn and soybeans around here.  Whenever I go to Brunner's NAPA, it's full of farmers buying tractor parts and discussing the weather, crop yields and politics.

 

Out annual car show brings in lots of cool vehicles from surrounding towns.  It amazes me that such a small area has this many hidden gems sleeping in local garages and barns.  I thought you might like to see a few of the cars on display this last weekend.  It was a fifty-fifty mix of hot rods and originals.

 

 

Edited October 2, 2017 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Taylormade]

[capngrog]

Nice cars.  Nice town.  Thanks for posting.  It looks like the main street was shut down for the show which indicates excellent municipal cooperation and support for the show.   Does the show have a name, and does it occur around the first of October every Year?

 

Cheers,

Grog

[John_S_in_Penna]

"It's a typical mid-western sort of place, kind of sleepy, laid back and quiet."

 

Thanks for sharing your pictures, Mr. Taylor.

But I wouldn't call the typical small town "sleepy."

It's the unfamiliar city-dwellers that tend to call them that.

I have found the typical small town resident more alert to things

than other people tend to be.  And while small-town residents

aren't up all night at night-spots, they're up earlier and 

working at least as hard.  (Think of your local farmers, for example.)

Give your town the credit it likely deserves!

[Taylormade]

I meant it as a compliment.  Yes, we are up early and work hard, but we tend to go about it in a rather laid back manner.  No traffic, most folks know each other, and we all go about our business without a lot of unnessessary excitement.  I much prefer it to my days in St. Louis, Missouri.

[Taylormade]

Grog, it's just always been the Pana Car Show.  It happens at the end of September each year.  Closing the main drag in our town is not a big deal - plenty of side streets and not much weekend traffic.

[alsancle]

That is cool.  Thanks for posting.

[Spinneyhill]

Xclnt. Thank you. Your streetscapes are quite different to ours. We don't get snow so most of our shop fronts have a canopy. Your streetscape looks kind of flat compared to ours.

 

Here are two from Napier, which is an art deco town, being rebuilt in the '30s after being destroyed on Feb 3, 1931 by a big earthquake and the fire that followed.

 

And this one is from here in Tauranga:

[plymouthcranbrook]

The cars are wonderful. It says a lot for the state of the economy in your area that so many folks have so many nice old cars.  As we all know, they are not cheap especially restored ones.

[Taylormade]

I wish I could agree, but our area of the state (Illinois) is one of the poorest.  Most industry and manufacturing are long gone.  The high school is our town's largest employer.  Most of the local cars are home restorations.  But I do agree that the cars are wonderful and the folks that own them are a friendly bunch.