Three Rivers Fire District holds car show
Emma Day, 6, stands in front of the 2009 Dodge Caliber SRT4 that she and her dad brought to the Three Rivers Fire District Car Show held on July 17 on Main Street. She is holding a picture of her mom, who was killed in a car accident a few weeks ago. (Jen Jones)
Despite rain showers, a large crowd wandered up and down Main Street on July 17 to see more than 40 different cars and trucks at the Three Rivers Fire District Car Show.
Lynn Powelson, chief, said the car show has been a department fundraiser for more than 25 years. It was first held at the airport as part of their breakfast fundraiser. Their first show only had five cars and the show has grown each year.
The money that was raised from the car show will be used to upgrade their communication system at the fire department. “We received a grant from the Coshocton Foundation for new pagers and we are very thankful for that. We want to upgrade more and are also considering a new boat for water rescue.” The number of water rescues the department is called to has jumped considerably over the last few years.
The Future Leaders 4-H club was selling food and the department had door prizes for all entries. A 50/50 drawing was also held. “We hoped that people would take advantage of local restaurants while they were in town, too. We wanted to bring business to them, too.” Powelson also said that in years past, local businesses sponsored trophies for the show, but the department felt that asking for donations after the rough year businesses had would be in poor taste.
“We know how our local businesses have struggled with COVID restrictions. It didn’t seem right to ask. One of our firemen is a manager at O’Reilly Auto Parts and he talked to them. They donated our trophies today. We appreciate that. Hopefully, next year, we can go back to having each business choose the car to award their trophy to.”
Aric Richcreek proudly leans against the car, a 2002 Pontiac Trans Am WS6, he chose as his favorite at the Three Rivers Fire District Car Show held on Main Street on July 17. (Jen Jones)
RJ Day and his daughter, Emma, brought his 2009 Dodge Caliber SRT4 to the show. “It was completely stock when I got it six or seven years ago. I’ve done lots of work on it – the engine, the wheels.” Day said he is a Master Ford Tech and working on cars is a passion he has had since he was younger. “We try to get to every show we can. It’s been rough because of COVID, but we always come to this show.”
Emma said she likes her dad’s car because it goes fast and because of the “popcorn.” Her dad explained that the car’s exhaust makes a popping noise when he is driving and Emma calls it popcorn.
Susan and Darrell Conkle brought their 1985 GNC Suburban to the car show. It’s all original and the inside looks like new. “It only has 55,000 miles on it,” said Susan. “We have other cars we were going to bring, but then the weather looked bad. We do quite a few shows.” Susan said the first show she took her 2012 Camaro SS to she was awarded first place with it and that same car took first place at another car show in Coshocton a few weeks ago.
(Jen Jones)
“We like coming out to the shows and looking at the cars, especially the old stuff.”
Bill and Joan Mainwaring were at the show with his 1967 Firebird. He has owned it for more than 10 years. “It’s been repainted, but it’s pretty much original. I did some interior work, but basically, the way it looks is how I got it.” He said they go to as many shows as they can.
They even took the car to a cruise in in Watkins Glen, New York. “They have a Grand Prix festival every year. It’s just classic, antique cars all weekend.” They even got to drive the car on the NASCAR track that is located in Watkins Glen. Joan said, “We couldn’t go full speed, but he passed the slow car in front of him and tried to catch the pace car, but we didn’t.”
(Jen Jones)
Chief Powelson said, “We definitely appreciate all the support we’ve gotten from the community for our car show. Thanks to J’s Portable Toilets and Our Town Coshocton. We want to work together to bring Main Street back.”
Category: People & Places
