The holiday is over, so now is a good time to go into the Opel group activities at the upcoming event. Most of those who attend have been at the event before and pretty much know how it goes. For the newbies, here is how it mostly goes.
Friday Sept. 27
This is an arrival day for most. People start showing up at the Club Hotel around noon and on into the evening. The Friday event for the Mother Road Fest is a cruise from the Capitol City Shopping to the downtown show field at about 6:30 PM. People line the streets and cheer the cars as they go by. It helps to get in line early if you plan to be a part of this. The starting point is only a couple of blocks from our hotel. For those who do not wish to be a part of the cruise we try to have dinner as a group at one of the restaurants within walking distance of the hotel at about 6:30 PM. The Hospitality room at the hotel should be open by 7:00 Pm. This is the place to meet, greet, and have a drink or two.
Saturday Sept. 28
This is our main day for the event. We try to have our group lined up on the Hotel parking lot by 8:00 Am so we can drive in to the show area in line. If you are pre-registered and have picked up your show packet you will drive directly to our parking area in front of the A. Lincoln Library on N. Sixth Street. If you have not gotten the above documents, you will need to pull over before the show area and pick them up. We will save room for you in the parking area. If you plan to arrive late let us know and we will also save room for you. Once we are parked, we try to get a group photo. If you wish to be Judged by the show people, this is the time to prep your car. After this, folks tend to roam the show area. We try to get everyone back to our area about 3:00 Pm to start our group activities. This is when we do our participant voting for the Saturday Club Awards. The Main show Awards are not until Sunday. While the votes are being counted we will do a parts auction this year. After the auction we have a drawing for door prizes. After that it is time to do our group Awards. When this is all done we hope to be ready to go as a group to Saturday evening dinner at Abe's Hideout on Dirksen Parkway around 5:30-6:00 Pm. This just a few blocks north of our Hotel. After dinner it is back to the Hospitality room.
Sunday Sept. 30
This tends to be a travel day for most of our group. For those who can stay and wish to see the Opel Awards that are given out on the main stage we try to get to the show area by 10:30 Am. I will meet anyone who wants to go by 10:00 Am on the hotel parking lot to drive downtown. It is a little harder to get our parking area on Sunday due to it being close to the main stage. Those who have been here a few times know to come in the back way. After the Awards we call it a weekend.
Safe travels and thanks to all.
