Cruisers set mark with Saturday car show

FORT MADISON – The Pen City Cruisers are quickly becoming one of the largest philanthropic hobby groups in the area.
The Club held one of their annual car shows Saturday at the Fort Madison Riverfront pavilion with more than 100 cars on display, 78 of which were entered into the show’s contests. The others were club members' cars which weren’t part of the judging.
Chad Schneider, the president of the group, said the club continues to grow and their outings draw motorists from around the country.
The group picks a charitable group to partner with at each show to help give back to the community. This year that was Iowa 2x4s for Hope, which helps build homes for at-risk veterans looking for an efficient home to live in.
Schneider said he spent the day encouraging visitors to sign 2x4s at the group’s booth on site.
“Those pieces will actually go into the home during construction and they are set to build their next home over on Storms Court in August. It’s a great group, and our club is proud to partner with them this year,” Schneider said.
The 2x4s group is holding fundraisers this month including May 8th where Pizza Hut will donate a portion of sales from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and the Fort Madison Eagles are sponsoring a Taco and Enchilada support on May 13th from 4:30 to 7 p.m.
Schneider said this year’s spring car show was the biggest turnout they’ve had for a show.
“This is actually our record number of 78 registered cars, and then I think we got about 25 club cars that we don’t count in the final numbers. But 78 paid registries and the club cars are here for additional display.”
Schneider said the farthest car entry was driven in from Kentucky and not trailered in.
“He has family that lives an hour from here and he's in the military, so he drove here to stay with his family over the weekend and he is a friend of mine. I've known him for years, so I asked him to come, and I told him we had a prize for the longest distance driven for the show not just trailered and brought in. So, he drove it here over the last couple of days.”
Schneider also said the club is growing, and that’s a good thing for the community.

“Southeast Iowa just has so many car enthusiasts that they're always looking for an event to do and luckily, we're the first one of the year. There's cruises in April, but this is the first actual car show, so that's a good way to kick off the season and people are itching all winter, so I think that definitely contributes to our numbers,” he said.
“We are currently at 89 members, 74 cars. I just looked that up the other day because somebody else asked me. That's a lot of families. And then we're giving back to the 2x4s For Hope this year, that's why we have them on site because we all agreed as the car show committee to donate to someone different every year, and 2x4s is brand new to us,” Schneider said.
The show wrapped up with the club awarding the Sheriff's Choice, Police Chief’s Choice, Fire Chief’s choice, Veterans’ Choice, Club’s Choice,  the Susan Butler Memorial Award, the Longest Distance Award, and then the top 30.
Gary Hurts of Plymouth, Illinois said he and his buddy drove their vehicles over and the two put on about 5,000 miles traveling to car shows across the region.
“I put on a show in Plymouth as part of the Plymouth Old Settlers Association." Hurts said he took it over close to 10 years ago because he wanted to see it continue.
He brought a powder blue and white Monte Carlo in 2013 and has “enough money in it” to allow him to be part of the car shows. He’s also redone a 1987 Camaro and he drives that around to festivals across the area, as well.
The event was part of a full weekend in Fort Madison, capped off with the Twisted Cat Catfish tournament on the Mississippi. Boaters hit the waters at about 6 a.m. and then had a weigh-in at Willow Patch in the afternoon Sunday. There were about 60 boaters registered for the tournament.
There was also the Cinco De Mayo celebration at the Kingsley Inn that brought visitors in for authentic Mexican food, dancing, games, and music.
Chi Easton, the organizer of the inaugural event, said despite a little chilly weather, the event was a success.
 “We’re so happy with the weather. It turned out great. It’s a little chilly, and we didn't know what to expect our first year, but with our Mexican heritage, we really wanted to start doing more things with it,” she said.
“So this year is the 104th Fiesta and it is the first Cinco de Mayo. Honestly, we started with a couple food trucks and a band, and then we just kept going and going and grabbing things and we’re really happy that we have things for kids to do.”
Excitement Disc Golf held a two-day tournament in Fort Madison up at Rodeo Park’s disc golf course. Eastin said there were about 90 golfers signed up to play in the tournament and they had a reception at Turnwater Friday night before the tournament.