Oregon City's popular antique car show — free to all families who wish to be spectators — is back after a two-year hiatus, with car-entrant fees again benefiting Clackamas Community College.
Cascade Pacific Plymouth Club will return to Clackamette Park with Cruise-In Down By the Riverside on Saturday, June 18.
As usual, the event will benefit scholarships for CCC auto-technology students, said Robin Will, editor of the Cascade Pacific Plymouth Club's newsletter. Since 2015, CPPC has funded $26,450 in scholarship funds and contributed more than $2,000 to the athletic teams that help run the event.
From its event receipts and pass-through donations directed to the CPPC scholarship fund at Clackamas Community College, the club donated $6,000 in 2019. The club also gave $750 to the CCC track team, whose members help park cars and manage the event each year.
Advance registration notes "suggest there's a pent-up post-COVID demand for activities in the old-car hobby. A large turnout is expected this year," Will said.
Participants can expect goodie bags for the first 100 cars registered. There will be both club- and crowd-sourced judging for awards. Raffles will go on all day, as well as a silent auction and a 50/50 jackpot. There will be food vendors on-site, and parking is easy for walk-in attendees.
Will said that CPPC is again humbled by the community participation in this event. Before the end of April, CPPC reported already being oversubscribed for trophy sponsorships.
"We figured out we'll need to plan one raffle drawing every 10 minutes so we can give away all of the merchandise that's donated," Will said. "We have already seen a number of pass-through donations that go directly to our scholarship fund at CCC, for income-tax purposes."
All cars are welcome at this event, and visitors can expect to see a wider variety than at other car shows.
CPPC took over the coveted Clackamette Park location from the Studebaker Drivers Club-NW in 2019, when most of the orphan-car groups continued to attend this springtime event. Orphan cars refer to carmakers that have been discontinued, often by companies that made amazing cars but failed to turn a profit.
The Studebaker Drivers Club's event had focused on orphan cars, while the CPPC had previously hosted an annual event in August on the CCC campus in Oregon City.
During its first year at Clackamette Park, CPPC hoped for about 100 cars, and 223 showed up.
Cruise-In Down By the Riverside
When: Saturday, June 18. Gates open at 7 a.m. for participants. Cruise-in activities begin at 9 a.m., and the awards ceremony will begin at 2 p.m.
Where: Clackamette Park, 1955 Clackamette Drive, Oregon City
Cost: Free for spectators; $20 to register your vehicle for entry in award contests
Preregistration: CascadePacificPlymouth.org
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