Leland Under the Lights 2009

Well this year's edition of Leland Under the Lights was Saturday night and it was a great success. With exactly 199 cars and no one knows how many spectators (we only know there were a lot!), the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce event raised an impressive amount of money for scholarships to be awarded later this year. The cars and trucks at the show ranged from early 20th century hot rods to fresh off the showroom floor 2010 models.

The Chamber's car show committee and a crew of able volunteers worked hard and long to get everything ready for the show, including trash receptacles.

BB&T bank was a major sponsor, helping us pay for The Imitations, a fabulous Carolina band that had many folks dancing from 6:30 till 10PM.

Scott Reeves (the guy who looks suspiciously like Santa Claus on the stretch golf cart) was one of the major players in making sure all went well.

We set up a couple of registration tents outside a vacant new retail building in the shopping plaza in front of Waterford.


Scott and Connie Reeves were at the show grounds early and stayed late, so their two cars were the first on the lot. The Vette is Scott's and the Road Runner belongs to Connie.

We used lots of police tape to close off traffic lanes in the parking lot - as it was we just about filled it. Here are Bus Smith and Ken Schiess.

Some early arrivals left to have lunch at one of the restaurants with their colorful mix of show cars in a row.

Sheila Hanby was the chair of the Car Show committee and worked the entrance throughout the 4-7PM registration period.

North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Terry Grillo worked with Sheila.

Jeff Harvell parking American muscle cars.

This Knight Rider Firebird had a nifty steering mechanism.

There were plenty of trucks in the show, including this pristine Ford.

NBCC Board members Brenda Bozeman and Dana Fisher posed with Santa Claus (oops, I mean Scott Reeves).

Bob and Carolyn Pirnat of Asset Storage helped park cars.

Roy Lettieri worked on the committee for advertising and at the show manned the VFW table.


The Leland Fire and Rescue organization made a great showing and flew the colors from the ladder truck.


Radio personality Brian "Stunt Boy" Joyce singing The Leland Song.











Here's Jeff Harvell again. Jeff is always on the move and always smiling. His efforts at events like this are super important - he's a go-to guy at organizing and running events of all kinds.

Brenda Bozeman and her daughter Micki.

Dana Fisher.
Ken Schiess, Chamber Ambassador pulled tough duty. He escorted two women from Hooters who sold tickets for a 50-50 raffle. Here's Ken just meeting the women.

And, as you can see, within a short time they were all getting along quite well. Good work, Ken! (Actually, kidding aside, this hard-working trio sold $690 worth of tickets, so one lucky winner went home with $345 and another $345 went toward scholarships for the kids in North Brunswick County. So a big thanks to all three.)

A lonely T-Bird waiting to get into the show area.


When The Imitations started singing, the energy started flowing big time.


Here are The Imitations singing and dancing Shag Music with the crowd.



Aggie Brown and Pam Caines, volunteers from Riegelwood Federal Credit Union.

Gina Shiess, Tina Sikes, Connie Reeves, and Alice Razzano.

Tina Sikes. Tina and her husband Albert own The Leland Copy Center and produced the shirts and awards at the show. The shirts were a big hit.

Bus Smith and Trace McKay taking a rare break after being on their feet for about 6 hours.

Marge Brown and Peggy O'Leary were obviously having fun at the event.

Ken and Gina Schiess.

Alice Razzano and Connie and Scott Reeves tally up the 50-50 raffle tickets.
James Bozeman watching the band from a golf cart.

Leland Police Corporal Robert Ernst came by to be sure all was going well. He brought four of his six children.

Drawing prizes for car registrants.

Joan Smith Picking the winning 50-50 Raffle ticket.

And here's the lucky winner.

Scott Reeves also recognized George and Laura Patterson, the founders of Leland Under the Lights. George also was an integral part of this year's committee.


As the show was winding down, The Imitations sang and danced with the crowd to Pink Cadillac.



The 6th annual Leland Under the Lights was a big success. Thanks to all who helped make it a success. See you next year!

Rims on the River!

So, did you go to Rims on the River 2009 last Saturday? Wow, they sure close downtown Wilmington's streets for some great events.


I parked near the Coastline Convention Center (hint - free and easy, when there's space) and walked down Water Street by the Hilton. First I walked through the Rivefront Farmers Market, which closes a couple of blocks of Water Street just north of Market each Saturday from mid April through December with vendors offering fresh flora and produce.

Our buddy the multi-talented El Jaye Johnson had a tent by the river and he was ROCKIN'.

I walked up Market Street from the river and saw a typical Downtown Wilmington scene: horse drawn trolley, leather-clad bikers, and classic cars - yeah, that's Wilmington, what's not to like?

Market Street was open all the way to the Cape Fear River, but Front Street was closed and lined on both sides of the street with classic cars from north at Red Cross Street as south as Orange Street.

The cars on display were mostly American iron, but there were some foreign cars as well. I think I saw one Ferrari, one Maserati, and a whole passle of British cars (all, of course, pre-1980, the event's cutoff). A lot of pre-80s bikes, too.

There were a couple of these coffin-looking low-riding dragsters. Not sure exactly what they're called (so help me out with a comment to this blog post, someone), but I can't imagine they'd drive well on uneven streets - ouch, those cobblestones hurt!

The timeless Cobra with its clean, mean look appeals to almost everyone.

Advance Auto had a trailer with a monster truck inside. If you wanted you could wait in line to sit in the driver's seat to watch a big video screen where I assume they simulated you driving over jumps and bunches of other cars and stuff. It was too nice a day, so I decided I didn't wanna. Mostly in the line were kids and guys with dates.

The greater Wilmington area has a boatload of car shows - sigh, that's not very well said, is it? OK, so anyway they have a lot of them. Rims on the River is pretty big (estimated at 400 cars by the estimable Downtown Business Alliance).

One might wonder how closing the downtown streets so often during weekends is for downtown merchants. I suppose it matters, but I spoke briefly with good guy Scott who manages Front Street Brewery (that would be on Front Street) and he seemed pretty happy. When the weather cooperates as it did so well for the Azalea Festival and Rims on the River, Front Street Brewery puts tables and chairs outside and moves their host/hostess station to the door and does a booming business. Other restaurants apear to love it as well.