Woodland Street Cruisers - How It All Started
By Larry Vogelesang
Everyone has heard of Hot August Nights in Reno, Nevada. It is one of the biggest attractions for classic and hot rod cars in the nation with more then 5000 cars registered. Did you know that the original Hot August Cruise Night started in Woodland in the late Seventies? It all started with Bob Blair and other local car enthusiast cruising Woodland’s main street on the weekends.
In 1984 it developed as an all day event. The idea came from Woodland Street Cruiser members Manual Arteche, Fred Broesch and Doug Souza to make it more of an organized event and the Hot August Cruise Night was started. The Show and Shine was in the morning and afternoon and the cruise in the evening. With more then 800 cars registered for the Show and Shine the cars lined up on Main Street from California to Sixth Street.
Many residents in Woodland volunteered to help from crowd control to blocking the side streets. You could find the Boy Scouts on the side streets helping with blocking traffic The Cruise also had a lot of help from the Police Department. Many of the businesses got involved from sponsoring to helping with the raffle prizes. Some of the prizes were car engines and even a restored classic car was a prize one year.
It was a big party with craft and food booths and a dance in the evening. The evening had some of the biggest names of the 50 and 60 music scenes performing in Heritage Park. In 1994 a pre cruise night prom was started and held at the Woodland Hotel. Where ’50s and ’60s dress was encouraged.
Hot August Cruise Night was for many years one of the biggest attractions in Yolo and the surrounding counties. Cars as far as the bay area were registered for the Show and Shine.
Finally in 2000 it was the last Hot August Cruise Night as an event. The Hot August Cruise Night became more difficult to set up and have adequate crowd control. In May of 2000 another event was started with some of the members wanting to have an event at the Fairgrounds that could be better controlled. It was called Hot Rod Reunion and Motorcycle Show. To help get the event going some of the local car enthusiasts brought multiple cars. Charlie Lillard brought over four and Joe Hiedrick Jr. more then six.
The Woodland Street Cruisers since 2000 have held the Hot Rod Reunion and Motorcycle Show event at the Fairgrounds. There are now over 200 cars and motorcycles that will attend the event. Many of the car owners come back year after year because it is a fun show for the entire family. The Hot Rod Reunion and Motorcycle Show has food, craft vendors, music and something for everyone. Since 2006 B.A.C.A. (Bikers Against Child Abuse) and the Roadrunners Motorcycle Club have helped with setting up this event.
The event is usually on the first Sunday in June. This year’s event will be on Sunday June 8th. Many of the local sponsors of the Hot August Cruise Night are also sponsoring the Hot Rod Reunion and Motorcycle Show. The sponsors are a very important to the success of the yearly Show.
The Woodland Street Cruisers is a nonprofit organization and proceeds from the Show go back to the local community. The Woodland Street Cruisers are always looking for new members for the Club. You do not have to own a classic car but just love the old classic cars. It is a good way for new car enthusiast to get to ask questions from the other members on building or restoring a classic car. The meetings are on the second Tuesday of the month. For more information on the Woodland Street Cruisers call Larry 530-662-3814 or hotrodreunion@yahoo.com.