Car show in Oxford delights large crowd

10/16/2018 02:11PM ● By Steven Hoffman

For car enthusiasts in the area, last Saturday was a great day as the fifth annual Downtown Oxford Car Show rolled into town.

The car show featured gleaming vintage cars, modern muscle cars, sleek motorcycles, and impressive trucks. The event had originally been planned for Sept. 7, but was postponed because of rain. On Saturday, the weather was rainy early in the morning, but by the time the car show started at noon, the sun was breaking through the clouds and the crowd was starting to grow.

The wait for the car show was worth it for the many people who look forward to it each year—and for people like Adam Berry, who entered his 1981 Camaro in the car show competition.

Berry, a resident of Paradise, Pa., said that he purchased the Camaro just last year. It had been kept in a barn for 15 years before it was put up for sale. Berry has been working on the car since he purchased it. “It was all original except for the paint job,” he explained. “I rebuilt the engine. It’s still a work in progress. I’m just having fun with it.”

Paul Thomas has also had a lot of fun with his 1974 Corvette Stingray. Like a lot of the car owners, he has a special connection with the kind of car that he takes so much pride in.

He said that he has always been a fan of the Stingray, starting with when he would see commercials for the car during “Bonanza.” Thomas and his wife, Barbara, owned a Stingray very early in their marriage. But then they sold the car to buy their first house. More than 30 years later, Thomas bought another Stingray so that he could enjoy fixing one up. He found one that had been well cared for by the previous five owners. When he purchased the car, it had 38,000 miles on it. Now, it has about 43,000 miles, and is in even better shape than when he first bought it.

“I did a few thousand dollars of repairs to it,” he explained.

Thomas said that he really likes the Oxford Car Show.

“I think this is a great event,” he said. “Oxford is a nice little town. They have nice restaurants and some very good events.”

The fact that the car show was taking place in October instead of September and on a Saturday afternoon instead of a Friday evening did not deter fans of the event. The car show attracted both car owners and visitors from throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.

“We’re excited to have such a great turnout,” said Mary Lou Baily, the Main Street Manager for Oxford Mainstreet, Inc. (OMI), which organized the car show. “It’s a good experiment to do this on a Saturday. We’re interested to see how it turns out.”

As the car show has grown in the last five years, more and more activities have been planned throughout the day. The event isn’t just for car enthusiasts. There was plenty of food, live music, and fun during the day. Local favorites Half Past Seven performed on the main stage. A large crowd enjoyed “Jumping Joe” Janicki as he performed his BMX stunt show. There were also numerous vendors, including food trucks, nonprofit organizations in the Oxford community, and merchants selling clothing and jewelry in the downtown. There was plenty of activities for children, too, especially in the new Kids Zone, which included car-themed games and activities. It all made for a fun, family-friendly event.

“It’s really nice to see so many people out supporting the event,” said Oxford Borough Mayor Lorraine Bell.

Bell thanked the Oxford Police Department and borough employees for helping to make the car show possible, including police officer Scott Brown, who led up the public safety efforts for all the visitors to the downtown.

Baily thanked the Car Show Committee for all the hard work that the volunteer members put in to plan and stage the event, as well as the numerous sponsors and businesses who helped make the car show a success. Baily said that Country Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM in Oxford was the presenting sponsor of the car show this year.

The Oxford Car Show handed out a number of awards during this year's event, including the following:

1st Place

Car Category

1964 Ford Falcon Sprint

Owner: Tom Lauppe

2nd Place

Car Category

1965 Volkswagen Beetle

Owner: Raul Opio

3rd Place

Car Category

1932 Ford