Warden car show shines

WARDEN - The Warden Classic Car Show & Ride in Bike Show attracted people from all over Eastern Washington and served as a tribute to a past event organizer.

The Papa's Choice Award was given to Russ Wren of Spokane for his 1955 Pontiac Chieftain Deluxe.

The award is a tradition started last year in honor of Tom Gould. Gould was the original event organizer who died last year. Since the award's inception, Gould's grandson, Jay, 14 of Kennewick, Wash., chooses a vehicle each year to win the award.

"It's pretty cool because it's like a tribute to my grandpa," Jay said. "I chose it because I thought it was something he would like."

He said he bases half his decision on what his grandpa would have liked and half on what he likes about the vehicle.

Tom's wife, Linda, said she thought the Pontiac Chieftain Deluxe was perfect for the award.

She volunteers at the annual event, now in its fourth year.

Linda said the event was fun because more people came to the show than last year to look at the entries. There was also a larger variety of entries, including motorcycles this year.

There were 24 entries.

Arturo Martinez of Warden won the Best Truck Award for a 1959 Chevrolet pickup.

He said his son Lee, 17, deserves all the credit for the award because he restored it.

"He made everything," Arturo said.

He said Lee spent countless hours restoring the truck. They've owned it for about 15 years and it wasn't done until the day before the show. The final touch on the truck was installing new windows.

Judi O'Brien of Moses Lake and her husband Terry came to the event in hopes of entering their early model Triumph but were too late due to a dead car battery. They decided to come out and enjoy the show.

When Judi came across a red, Chevrolet Deluxe, owned by David Altizer of Moses Lake, it brought back some old memories.

She said she used to ride in the same type of car when she was a child. She could remember the feeling of sitting on the seats.

"That was Sunday drives," Judi said.

The Best in Show Award went to Jeff and Penni Rybarczyk of College Place, Wash., for their 1937 Ford. The vehicle will be featured on the promotional T-shirts for the next event.

"I think it went over fantastic," event volunteer Gordie Edwards said. "I've talked to people and they thought it was great."

He said he enjoys seeing people win their trophies and watching people browsing the entries.

There were five judges reviewing the entries.

The vehicles are judged on a variety of characteristics but the most important was whether or not the judge would be proud to drive it, Edwards said.

"I hope everybody went away feeling good," he said.

More pictures of the car show are available for viewing at www.columbiabasinherald.com.