Othello car show returns to Kiwanis Park with slow drags, poker run

OTHELLO — After a year off, cars and their owners will return to Kiwanis Park Saturday for the annual car show sponsored by the All City Classics Car Club.

Cynthia Dovel, one of the organizers, said other events are also scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the park on South Seventh Avenue, including a poker run and slow drags.

Registration for the car show is 8 a.m. Saturday. Trophies are awarded at about 4 p.m., Dovel said.

“This is our 25th car show,” Dovel said.

But it’s not the 25th in a row. The COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 show.

The car show has always drawn just about every wheeled vehicle imaginable.

“We won’t turn anybody away,” she said.

Previous shows have attracted owners of antique cars from the 1920s, classic rides from the 1930s through the Atomic Age of the 1950s, muscle cars from the 1960s, and tricked out vehicles from the 1970s and 1980s. Owners also have brought their motorcycles and jeeps.

“There’s a little bit of everything,” Dovel said. “We’ve had kids bring their bicycles in. One time we had a bus.”

The entry fee is $15, and no advance registration is required.

“You can come to the car show; and just come,” Dovel said.

All the events associated with the car show are back, including the slow drags, which start at 6 p.m. Friday on Main Street. For people who’ve never heard of slow drags, it’s a drag race. It’s just -- well, 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.

Advance registration isn’t necessary for the slow drags, either.

There’s also a poker run Saturday afternoon. 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. Dovel said it’s a way to show participants other things Othello has to offer.

“We have a good time,” she said.