Little Big Show fills Wilson Creek with classics

WILSON CREEK — The streets of Wilson Creek were full on Saturday as locals and visitors alike turned out for the 10th annual Little Big Show.

“It's kind of our event where the town triples or doubles in population for the day,” said organizer Nicholas Odorizzi.

The weather was bright and warm for the town’s biggest annual event, a brief respite from the rain that plagued the rest of the weekend. There were 90 vehicles registered for the show, Odorizzi said, plus a few more that just turned up to be looked at.

Kevin and Sara Ray of Soap Lake brought a rust-covered 1950 Willys rat rod to the show. The vehicle was adorned with chains for door hinges, license plates lining the transmission hump and a skeleton riding the front bumper.

“I had the parts lying around and started piecing it together,” Kevin said. “Just stuff I found lying around.”

“And a lot of antiquing,” agreed Sara.

Kevin Sly of Wilson Creek showed an unfinished primer-black early 1960s Chevy Corvair. He had paid $300 for the car.

“It was on a wrecker waiting to be scrapped,” he said. “I put in a battery and it turned over so I said ‘I’ll take it.’”

Corvairs, which were manufactured between 1960 and 1969, had a six-cylinder air-cooled engine in the rear and cargo space in the front. Sly’s model had the two-speed Powerglide transmission that was common in early Corvairs, operated with a small lever in the dashboard next to the steering wheel.

“I let a friend drive it once,” Sly said. “It took him a long time to figure out the shifter.”

It’s still a work in progress, though.

“Someday I’ll have all four taillights,” he said.

Not all the vehicles were antiques. Jesse Hasch of Moses Lake brought a 1991 Toyota Sera that may have been one of the most exotic vehicles there. The Sera was manufactured in Japan for the domestic market, and only a couple of hundred made it to the U.S., Hasch said. It has panoramic glass in the doors, roof and hatch, with opaque inserts that can be slid into the ceiling to block the sunlight as needed. The butterfly doors open upward, kind of like the gullwing doors on a DeLorean, but stay close to the sides of the car to allow the vehicle to park in tighter spaces. Like most cars built for the Japanese market, it has the steering wheel on the right.

“I found it online,” Hasch said. “It was sitting in a warehouse in Japan just picking up dust. I picked it up in Fife and drove it home.”

The event wasn’t all on wheels. There were food stands and several vendors offering knives, ammunition and handicrafts. There were going to be more vendors, Odorizzi said, but several canceled at the last minute, fearing rain.

Local businesses were open as well, and at one house facing Railroad Street, the town’s main drag, there was a bluegrass trio playing live music.

The event was originally organized by the Harvest Moon Tavern, and Odorizzi took over the third or fourth year, he said. He added that Debbie Moore, who runs the tavern, was a huge help in organizing this year’s festival. Christian McCart of the Punk Rods crew supplied the trophies, he said.

“Everybody looked forward to it,” said Odorizzi. “The last couple of years have been kind of duds, with the pandemic, but this year? We couldn't ask for any better really.”

Joel Martin can be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.