*** Classy Chassis holds its own ***

East Wenatchee, Washington -- 05/07/2005
It started 20 year ago as a low-key little
car parade that some doubted would blossom.

Only 25 cars rolled out of the Columbia Cinemas parking lot,
the Sunday after the Apple Blossom Youth Parade in 1985,
and down Grant Road and Valley Mall Parkway to the Sears
parking lot where drivers and their families barbecued hot dogs.

Spectators were virtually nonexistent.

But Friday night, thousands of people lined the road and parkway,
multiple rows deep, and, in Classy Chassis tradition, sat in beds of
pickup trucks to watch the 20th annual Les Schwab Classy Chassis
Parade and Car Show. At least 20 people sat on the roof of Computer
Land on Grant Road.

The car show was Saturday in Eastmont Community Park.

There were 215 parade entries, up from 187 last year,
said Kristin Bryant, parade director.

"It continues to grow. We have people coming from all over the
state and some from Oregon and one from Henderson, Nev.,"
she said.

Kevin Jones brought his black 1993 Chevrolet Corvette
from Henderson, Nev., but only because he moved

there last fall to attend the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.
He's a 2002 Eastmont High School graduate who has had the
same car in the parade the last two years.

Traci Thompson, Wenatchee, drove her
red and white 1960 Corvette convertible.

"It was a dream of mine ever since I was nine. My dad acquired
it in 2001 and one week before his liver transplant he signed over
the title," she said.

Since then, her father, Ken Blogett, owner of Blogett
Construction & Associates, bought his "dream car,"
a red 1958 Impala. This year, both cars were in the parade.

The Thompsons' sons, Casey, 9, and Ryan, 6, wore T-shirts
that said, "When I grow up, I'm driving a Corvette. Lookout!"

Cheri Witte and Linda McGrann likely enjoyed the cushiest
spectator seats -- the leather seats of Witte's 2004 BMW Z4.
They parked facing Grant Road and right on the edge of the
road at the entry to ComputerLand.

Obidio Rocha, Wenatchee, and his family enjoyed their third
Classy Chassis. "I like the '60s and '70s Mustangs and

Camaros," he said.
It was the first year antique tractors were in the parade. Just three.
All are members of the Columbia Basin Antique Power Club in Quincy.

"I had to fight to get us in. I told them that I'd been buying tires
from Les Schwab for 40 years," said Bob Buys, Quincy, who
drove a 1957 Case 600 that he restored.

"Classic Tractor Magazine says this is the only fully-restored
one of its kind west of the Mississippi," he said.

His son, Todd, drove their red 1953 McCormick WD9
that the older Buys bought for $100 last October and restored.

Todd Voth, Moses Lake, who drove his gray 1946 Ford
Ferguson tractor, said antique tractor restoration is the fastest
growing hobby in the country.

Harold Jones, 75, East Wenatchee, said
he drove a car in the first Classy Chassis.

On Friday, he drove his yellow 1950 Mercury convertible
which he used to escort Gov. John Spellman in the 1981
Apple Blossom Festival Grand Parade.

"This car was sitting in weeds for
12 years in Manson before I got it.

The weeds were growing right up through it.
You could hardly see it," he said. "It was a
hot car in the old days."

Wenatchee World Chairman of the Board Wilfred Woods and
his son, Editor and Publisher Rufus Woods, were Classy Chassis
grand marshals, riding in Fred Deal's 1912 Ford. The two were
chosen because the newspaper is celebrating its 100th anniversary,
Bryant said.

Bryant said the Classy Chassis was started by Marcia Henkle,
president of the East Wenatchee Chamber of Commerce in 1985
and now a dean at Wenatchee Valley College, and Carla Carey,
who was on the chamber board in 1985 and was Chelan County
Fair director for years.

"A Wenatchee Chamber of Commerce member wanted a car
parade, but no one could work out a time and Bob Sumbardo
(then executive director of the Wenatchee Chamber of Commerce)
didn't want it," Henkle recalled.

"So they offered it to the Eastside," she said,
"And I don't think they ever thought this thing would go."

Geneb...Wenatchee,Washington-USA
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