23rd annual Spud Run car show coming this weekend to Othello

File photo Row upon row of classic vehicles packed Kiwanis Park for the annual Othello Spud Run last year.

File photo This 1959 Berkeley, shown at last year’s Spud Run, is one of fewer than 700 made.

by CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Staff Writer | July 18, 2018 3:00 AM

File photo This 1959 Berkeley, shown at last years Spud Run, is one of fewer than 700 made.

OTHELLO — Kiwanis Park in Othello will be packed wheel-to-wheel with sweet rides this weekend. The 23rd annual Othello Spud Run is scheduled for Friday night and Saturday.

There's activity away from the park too. The poker run is scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, around town. For those who've never heard of a poker run, participants visit checkpoints around town, drawing a playing card at each one. The player with the best poker hand wins, in this case some cold hard cash.

Main Street will be the venue for the slow drags Friday afternoon. For those who've never heard of slow drags, it's a drag race. It's just slow. The cars accelerate, but then coast to the finish line, or almost to the finish line. The car that gets closest to the finish line without actually crossing it wins.

There's also music downtown, from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday on the lawn at Othello City Hall. Registration for the car and bike show opens at 8 a.m. Saturday. In its 23 years the show has drawn muscle cars from the 1960s and 1970s, cruisers from the 1950s, street rods. The Spud Run has featured classic cars from the 1930s and 1940s – sometimes with a little history – vintage Model A's from the beginning of the Automotive Age, rare models with unusual back stories.

Along with the cool cars and bikes, there will be vendors, music and a number of food booths.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.