2017 Heartbeat Happening XIX

Poway Cruisers at the XIX Heartbeat Happening

What a beautiful day for a nice drive and car show. 21 Poway Cruisers in 10 cars met at the Rancho Bernardo Mercado Shopping Center as planned before 7:00 AM. We departed for Valley Center right on time, made the drive in under 30 minutes. By the time we arrived, it was obvious that if we had wanted to park under the trees and on the grass we would have needed to depart no later than 5:45 AM. Something we’ll have consider in the future.

On the plus side, we did get to park all together and setup a nice bivouac area. We were joined a short time later by 5 more members in 4 cars bring our participation to 26 members in 14 cars. As several of us were not pre-registered, we missed taking one of the club participation awards by 1 or 2 cars. The Old Farts Club took the 1st place award.

As in the past, the Heartbeat Classics put on a very nice event, complete with an egg/pancake breakfast, great rock and roll music, and a tons of awards. There were also several food venders for lunch, a really nice raffle, and the annual Spring Crafts Fair put on by Bates Nut Farm.

One again the Poway Cruisers sponsored one of the awards. Joyce Cowman (Judge Joyce) and Linda Bryan walked the whole show at least twice, and selected a ’29 Ford Roadster Pickup belonging to Tom Glavan as their favorite.

The day was warm, but not too warm with a nice breeze most of the day. About 1:00 PM we all congregated in the central park and watched and listened to Bob Romeo present awards, and Mark Pilch’s partner Joan announce the raffle prizes and 50/50 winners. The Poway Cruisers struck out totally on the raffle and 50/50, but took home some nice awards. Dick & Earlene Blank’s ’55 Ford Crown Victoria received the “Favorite Interior” award, and Jerry Reed’s ’32 Chevrolet 4dr Sedan garnered a “People’s Choice” Award. Jerry says it’s the first such award the car has ever received. Congratulations to both Dick & Jerry!

Everything was done by 2:30 PM, just early enough to beat the traffic home. Congratulations to the Heartbeat Classics Car Club on a very successful event benefiting the Veterans Association of North County.

Reported by:
George Cowman
President & Events Coordinator
Poway Cruisers Car Club