Monte Carlos in Attendance

The 2019 Western Meet
by Aaron Dodsworth

The 16th annual Western Meet is now in the books and it was the largest Western Meet to date. This was our 4th meet at the Peach City Beach Cruise event and is always well attended by the club. We had 31 members attend from 6 US states and 4 Canadian provinces. Friends of a member who are into Mopars had such a good time with the group that they will buy a first generation Monte Carlo before the 2020 meet.

Wednesday

Club members started to arrive Wednesday afternoon from all over the Western US and Canada. It is always fun watching Monte Carlos pull in to the Rosedale Motel in Summerland and slowly fill the parking lot throughout the evening. Everyone shares their story of their road trip to the meet and issues they encountered. Matt Hilla’s 72 Monte Carlo had trouble starting when he and Christine stopped at the Canadian border but the Canadian border guards assisted with pushing the car across the line. Matt had a local mechanic do a gear oil change on Wednesday and while they were performing their job the mechanic found a build sheet on top of the gas tank. It was in remarkably good condition considering it was sitting on the gas tank for 47 years! Kevin Uilkie’s air conditioning quit, gas gauge quit and had a dead battery due to leaving lights on during his 1,400 mile drive in his 1971 Monte Carlo from Arizona. Everyone arrived safely which is the important thing.

Thursday

I had organized a cruise for Thursday with various stops around the Southern part of Okanagan Lake. There was a threat of rain the whole time but we were fortunate that it held off for the most part. We cruised as a group of 13 cars through Penticton to a viewpoint in Naramata for some photos. That viewpoint of the Okanagan Valley allowed us to see the rain in the distance but so far we avoided getting wet. Due to the threat of rain we altered the picnic lunch location to the park at Peach Orchard Beach which had a covered area. After lunch we drove through Summerland to Nomad Cider for some cider tasting. Although it was unseasonably cool it didn’t stop members from sampling the delicious ice cream at our next stop at Summerland Sweets. We continued back to the hotel and it was starting to rain just as we were pulling into the parking lot. The rain held off just long enough to avoid our cars getting dirty.

Additional members continued to arrive Thursday afternoon from out of town and now the parking lot is nearly all Monte Carlos. It was a cool evening but we had a good time getting acquainted with new members and catching up with old friends.

Friday

Another cruise was in order for Friday and the weather was much better. This cruise was part of the Peach City Beach Cruise event which included stops at several wineries throughout the Okanagan Falls area. We had too many cars to attempt to stay as one group and some of the winery parking lots were not capable of holding that many cars so we split up into smaller groups. Each winery offered their own spectacular views of the Okanagan Valley which created a lot of photo opportunities. See Ya Later Ranch Winery high above Vaseux Lake was the first stop before proceeding to Nighthawk Vineyards even further up the mountain. We continued on to Stags Hollow Winery, Meyer Family Vineyards and Blasted Church Vineyards. At Blasted Church Matt had a cooling issue which he discovered was a blown fuse for his electric fans but was easily replaced.

Back at the hotel it was an amazing scene as now the hotel was completely taken over by the FGMCC group. The afternoon and evening was an enjoyable time as usual with members getting to know each other and sharing their knowledge.

Saturday

Steve Hoodicoff woke up to a flat right front tire on his 1970 Monte Carlo. He waited for the tire shop next door to the hotel to open up for the repair and it turned out it was a large staple that punctured the tire. While Steve waited for the tire shop the rest of the group left early for the Peach City Beach Cruise car show in Penticton. We arrived in Rotary Park, got our 29 Monte Carlos parked as a group and settled in for the day. The show that day had 850 cars parked along the beach of Okanagan Lake, live bands in the bandshell and a large market in downtown Penticton among other attractions.

Sunday

We were back in Rotary Park in Penticton to attend the Peach City Beach Cruise awards ceremony. Three of our members walked away with hardware in the Monte Carlo class. The group took several photos of our cars in the park before going back to Summerland to relax by the pool for the afternoon. The FGMCC awards banquet was held at Second Home Cafe a short walk from the hotel. I presented awards to members in 12 categories and handed out door prizes then finished off the banquet with a buffet dinner. We had one last night at the hotel enjoying each other’s company before the meet came to an end. I can’t wait to get together with my FGMCC brothers and sisters again.