Elkhart Sesquicentennial Parade

Elkhart was founded 150 years ago and to celebrate this milestone in the city's history, Mayor Dick Moore has plans for a citywide celebration. The centerpiece of this celebration includes a Grand Parade from 1:00 to 3:00 P.M. on Saturday, September 6th. This is the weekend after Labor Day. Michiana Mustangs have been invited to join the parade which will stage like past parades on Third St. We will need to be there by 12:30 P.M. EDT. The route will travel all the way down Main St. to North Side Gym where we will disband. Rest room facilities will be available.

Could be money involved: Mayor's Award: $500 to the entry that best represents "Happy Birthday Elkhart.", Parade Marshall's Award: $500 to the entry that best represents an aspect of Elkhart's 150 year history, Parade Committee Award: $500 to the entry that best displays imagination and creativity, and the Sweepstakes Award: $750 to the overall top entry. No candy or handouts allowed.

The full schedule will be posted in The Elkhart Truth. Check it out - most of the entertainment is free. If you get the chance, check out Elkhart's own Tim Cunningham with some of the best jazz saxophone you'll ever hear. Laser light show, fireworks, bands, food vendors, Ruthmere House tours, the Mayor's River Cruise with a 10 piece vintage brass band, the Grand Parade, and ending with a concert featuring Lee Greenwood (Proud To Be An American) at the Elco Performing Arts Center. Advance tickets to see Lee are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors & $7.50 for children. Day of the show they are $25, $15 & $10. He puts on an excellent show. Most of this takes place in the downtown area.

Mark the calendar right now - put it on the fridge. Hope we can show Elkhart how massive the Michiana Mustangs truly are. Questions or ideas? Call Brad at 574-674-4321 home or 574-612-5060 cell.

September

Corcoran, Tom & Patty Dudeck Jr., Harry & Nan Ewing, Charles & Mellisa Pierce, Blake & Angie Price, Kevin & Janette Reed, Kenny & Diane Schmidt, Frank & Kathryn Sly, John & Nancy Young, Darrell & Karen

October

Krallman, Jack Scarborough, Steve & Dawn Taelman, Mark & Judy

September Membership Anniversaries

(Years)

Kenny & Diane Reed (14)

Mark Wickizer (14)

Roger & MaryAnn Young (5)

Phil & Bonnie Higley (4)

Kevin & Janette Price (4)

Frank & Kathryn Schmidt (4)

George Glassburn (3)

Blake & Angie Pierce (3)

Treasurer’s Report July 2008

Dear Michiana Mustang Club Members, Thank you for the lovely plant, the many cards, and phone calls. It's wonderful to feel so cared for and supported. My beloved Bob was a very private man in many ways, and did not discuss very much about himself. He was

also very firm in that he wanted no obituary, no memorial. I will respect his privacy and his wishes, and ask that

you do the same for him and me. For those of you who knew Bob at all, you know he was a loyal Ford Mustang man and he regarded the club dearly. His record surely attests to that.

Although I do not plan to be at the car show, I wish you and all a successful one. Sincerely, Becky Christena

Dowagiac Car Show

Kevin Price let us know about the annual car show in Dowagiac. It was a beautiful day, only a 30 mile drive and we didn't have much on the schedule so we decided to try it out. We took our time getting around and heading north, with a short stop to visit Art and two of their dogs waiting in the parking lot outside the vet's office for Becky to pay the bill.

We arrived in Dowagiac around 9:20 thinking there would be no hurry or problem getting parked and registered. Wrong!! People start lining up to get into the show area well before 7 am and the show and the participant voting was well under way. In fact, many had already cast their ballots. They had many more cars than they had expected. We, being one of the last to arrive were parked at the far end of the street. We were joined by five other Michiana Mustangers at the show. It was their 18th show. They park the cars along the curb in front of the stores. The cost to enter the show was $15. They expanded the 12 categories which included for the first time one for Mustangs. They even ad a class called "Orphans". The Lions serve a pancake breakfast until 11 am and then serve Bar-B-Q and Brat for lunch. They had many, many sightseers all day long.

There were goody bags and door prizes. They had an excellent variety of cars and trucks. They had over 240 cars with awards for first and second in each class. At the end of the show they have the winners parade down the three block street between the show cars to accept their awards. That way everyone gets to see what the winning cars looked like. We plan to go again next year. But, we'll go much earlier so we get a better parking spot. We've asked Kevin arrange a meeting for our club cars so we can park together at the show.

Thanks to Kevin for the heads up on the show.

In His Grace Curly & Karon

Ft. Wayne (Old Fort Mustangers') Show

Of all our local regional shows, (besides our own) I think everyone likes the Ft. Wayne show the best, mainly because of its location. The Ivy Tech parking lot is a good showplace, the grassy knoll is a good place to warm up after a cooling off in the cafeteria in the IT Building, and we always seem to have a good turnout of members.

This year, on July 19, thirteen ponies from our club came to the show--can you believe we won the attendance award again !!

Dave Yoder had brought his now-famous corn hole game and some of these members are becoming real experts at tossing those corn-filled little bags.

Eighty-four Mustangs and Fords were judged in their show. Our members receiving firsts were: Curly Long, Jim Schmidt, Steve Scarborough, Darrell Young. Kevin Price, Larry Weaver, and Dave Yoder - 2nd, and 3rds to Ken Schmitt, Phil Higley, and Alan Wright.

Also attending were Vic Garrison, Ted Sauerbeck, and Vince Springer.

Another great afternoon of enjoying beautiful weather, beautiful cars, good Mustang friends, and plenty of time to chat, look, or catch a snooze.

Reported by June Schmidt

MCA NATIONAL SHOW: Dublin, Ohio

June 20-22, 2008 by June Schmidt

360 Degrees of Mustangs

Our computer friend Mapquest took us on a meandering path through rural Indiana and Ohio on our way to this suburb of Columbus, Ohio on this soon-to-be hot June afternoon. It is surprising how many little towns have courthouses gracing their downtown area.

Arriving at the show site, we were greeted and signed-in by MCA President Bill Johnson, and directed to our hotel parking lot where the show was to be held. We were pleased to see that our lovely room overlooked the parking lot and our car. We were parked next to Sharon Shumaker, a Mustang club member from the Crazy Horse, Markle, Indiana Club.

With scattered showers in the forecast for Sat., we weren't surprised to hear that severe storm warnings were in the area late afternoon and we soon experienced rain and wind. We watched from our window as several car covers, including ours, went sailing down the lot. Luckily, some nice people gathered up the covers and stuffed them under our cars and we replaced them after the downpour.

The 350 allotted spaces were all filled with pre-registered cars and they encircled the 2 hotels in the area. Later we learned that they had opened up another 30 spaces, so there were close to 400 cars in the show. There were vendors and lots of special Roush and other specialty cars there also.

The hotel restaurant served hamburgers and brats out on their lawn for the lunches, and about 200 people attended the Saturday night banquet. A power-point program featured all the Mustangs award winners, but which award was not known until the awards day on Sunday. Jim won a Gold with his 1994 Mustang and Darrell Young, a former club member, took a 2nd place. A 2000 GT Mustang won the gas pump award of a $50 gas gift card, for driving his car over 1000 miles to the show from his home in Florida.

We headed back north, but took a different route through Indianapolis, which was 50 miles longer, but an hour shorter than the scenic route.

There will be no Grand National Show in 2009 because of the 45th Anniversary show in Birmingham in April; two Michigan clubs up near Frankenmuth are still trying to pull things together for a National show with another in Raleigh, NC and another in Los Angeles.

National Shows are a lot of fun and present many pleasant experiences. Try to attend one in the future.

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