09/27/2008 - 12:00am
09/27/2008 - 5:00pm
Etc/GMT-6
A quick line from Hohenwald, everything seems to be coming together very well at this end, and a lot of cars are promising to come up from Alabama and Terry Geigers crowd as well as cars from Huntsville, and of course the Nashville group. And we have many volunteers ready to help here in Lewis County.
Ken Turnbow, Mayor of Lewis County has let us have the Industrial Park on Highway 20 just outside Hohenwald for the event. The grass will be cut pretty short on the Thursday prior to the event, and rolled with a large roller the same day to take out any serious "burmps".
We also have the empty house at The Industrial Park, the power is on, the water is on, and this is where we are going to prepare the food etc. plus the restrooms are there, and first aid post if needed.
We also have about twelve large round tables plus chairs that are going out under the trees where the food will be served. Menu will be Fish and Chips, Bangers and Mash or Cottage Pie, drinks will be cokes, Pepsi and of course cups of tea.
We have the stage for the music, plus the band/s. We were hoping that the "Crickets", Buddy Holly's old band, would be there. But a conflict has come up and they will be unable to make it. Maybe next year.
There will be another treat at the start of the Parkway that morning - an original London double decker bus. This will be a unique way to enjoy the drive down and then back up. They have room for 40 passengers and the cost for the entire trip is a nominal $20.
I have a photo shoot lined up for the Tennessean and Channels 2,4, and 5 on Thursday the 25th September around 4.00pm that afternoon, hopefully with the Crickets, and possibly with Gil Fuqua, and one of the Rolls Royce cars. I spoke with Gil, and this seems to be a strong possibility. This will make a nice front page picture for Friday morning's Tennessean and great publicity prior to the event Saturday.
There are many people in the area with British Cars who are not involved with the Nashville Club, who will only be made aware of what's happening when they see the newspapers and television story's, and I think that the event will be a great way of introducing yourselves (NBCC) to them as potential members. So please think about setting up your own tent and advertising the Nashville Club here at the event.
The main staging area for the Nashville contingency will be the start of the Parkway at Bellevue just past Loveless Cafe. From under the bridge right up round to the Parkway gates should be ample room, but the Parks Police will be there, but any other help from club members would be warmly welcomed.
Departure time from Nashville will be 11.00am arriving at the Meriwether Lewis Monument and gravesite at about 12.30pm. Others joining along route at say Franklin or Columbia will have to wait until the procession passes, so their departure will be a little later, but I would like the old Rolls Royce cars in the front with our guests The Crickets on board.
The gathering place for all will be the ML Monment at Lewis County, from there we will lay a wreath at the grave site with the Lewis & Clark Trail Foundation and Ken Turnbow Mayor of Lewis County. From the Parkway entrance the Lewis County Sheriff's department will escort groups of cars (75 per group) along Highway 20 to the Industrial Park at Hohenwald.
No idea of how many are going to turn up, but if the weather is good it should be a spectacular fall day with all the trees turning, and I would anticipate certainly over 200 cars and possibly as many as 250 and more. Plus a lot of people in the surrounding counties will be coming in just to see the show. And if the Crickets do a set, it will just add to a very spectacular day, and one that I hope will be repeated year after year.
Word of mouth is one of the best ways to bring people to an event such as this, so if you could make some phone calls to people asking if they are coming, that would help considerably in boosting the turnout.
This is a non-profit event, and any monies made will be put towards a similar event in 2009
If you, or anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to give me a call.
Happy Days.
Graham Kilsby
20 East 1st Avenue,
Hohenwald,
TN 38462
(931) 796-1441 (h)
(931) 306-7054 (m)