Last week we began the story of driving our Porshe 911 C4S from Portland 244 miles down Interstate 5 to Grants Pass, OR, population 39,194. We were headed to Cruise The Rogue, the revival of a weekend-long car show that started in 1980, but had been dormant since 2020. The weekend is produced by Main Street Grants Pass, a non-profit dedicated to revitalizing the city’s downtown. We arrived just in time for the opening night dinner, held outdoors on Main Street. There were well over 100 people in attendance, with the all the food and wine sourced locally. Proceeds benefited the […]
Last week we began the story of driving our Porshe 911 C4S from Portland 244 miles down Interstate 5 to Grants Pass, OR, population 39,194.
We were headed to Cruise The Rogue, the revival of a weekend-long car show that started in 1980, but had been dormant since 2020. The weekend is produced by Main Street Grants Pass, a non-profit dedicated to revitalizing the city’s downtown.
We arrived just in time for the opening night dinner, held outdoors on Main Street. There were well over 100 people in attendance, with the all the food and wine sourced locally. Proceeds benefited the Children’s Advocacy Center and the Grants Pass High School Marching Band and Color Guard Boosters.
We had a car-filled weekend. Saturday morning was a Cars and Coffee in the heart of downtown, at the same time as a car show in a nearby park.
A poker rally was held that afternoon. The way a poker rally unfolds is that you receive a playing card at each checkpoint. In this case seven; each one was a winery. (The Rogue River wine area is the Applegate Valley AVA, which is coming to rival its neighbor to the north, the Willamette Valley AVA.) At the end you keep your five best cards, and have the option of drawing two more. Even though my co-driver Scott and I tried to cheat, we still failed to even get a pair. But we enjoyed the seven tastings. (The cabernet sauvignons were our favorites.)
That night we had a private dinner with Sue Counselman from Vintage Underground, a sponsor of the event. I have been impressed with the effort VU has made to have a presence at car shows both locally and in California. They have become the “soup to nuts” facility for exotic car restorations in Oregon.
The next day was the car show. Over 300 vehicles were spread over the grass. There was something for everyone, ranging from a VW Beetle Monster Truck to a fine English-built toolroom replica of a Ferrari P4 race car.
Our Porsche seemed comfortable next to low-riders with Ford Flathead engines and custom VW busses. There was even a handsome Opel Manta sedan, whose owner said he had five Opels, two Mantas and three GTs.
That night was the Cruise-In, with hundreds of cars of every type parading on three lanes in a loop around downtown. The streets were lined with cheering spectators, some even holding signs from 1 to 10, rating the cars going by. I think we only got a six.
The capstone of our trip home was a stop at the K & R Drive-Inn near Roseburg, a “classic, family-owned American drive-in restaurant known for its nostalgic atmosphere, burgers, fries, and extensive Umpqua Dairy ice cream selection.”
I enjoyed a blueberry sundae with a butterscotch topping, tripling my caloric intake for the day.
As we drove home, we talked about how all-encompassing the weekend had been. Of course, it takes a masterful organizing plan and lots of volunteers to make a show seem “simple.” Part of the magic of the car community is its ability to welcome you no matter what your passion is, and to make you feel a part of everything.
Next year’s event has already been announced. Mark your calendar for July 22-25, 2027.
Have you been to a weekend-long local car show like this that you enjoyed? Please tell us about it in the comments below.
Read my previous blog posts here.
Subscribe to Sports Car Market and get 12 issues, plus six Insider’s Guides, including access to our complete archive. Join here.
Leave a Reply