The 13th annual Les Cheneaux Car Show on the Bay will take over downtown Cedarville Friday afternoon, August 7. The event will be held on Hodeck Street from noon to 4:30 p.m., concluding with an awards ceremony. This year’s featured cars will be Studebakers.
Registration for the show will run from 10 a.m. to noon at the Les Cheneaux Community Library. The show is expected to attract about 80 vehicles. The display area will likely stretch from South Meridian Street east to the First Union Church. The event is open to all makes and models, including motorcycles.
David Meninga, the Les Cheneaux Historical Association President, is organizing the car show again this year. This association event serves as a companion event to the Les Cheneaux Islands Antique Wooden Boat Show Saturday, August 8, in Hessel. The car show has grown through the years, but retains its appeal as a crossover event on one the Les Cheneaux Islands’ biggest summer weekends. Meninga enjoys talking to everyone who attends the event.
“I’m looking forward to seeing all the people that come, including the regular faces that I see every year,” Meninga said. “If you love your car, we want to see it…We want to see what it is about your car that’s special to you”
The show will follow its traditional format this year. Meninga said it is great to see all of the new entrants joining the fun each year alongside the regulars.
“It’s a fun community gathering of people that own cars, love cars, and work on cars,” Meninga said. “I love seeing these same people every year, and new people too.”
Studebaker was a noted car brand throughout the first half of the 20th century. The South Bend, Indiana, company started out making horse-drawn wagons before transitioning to cars in 1902, which it continued to make until 1966. This will be the first year the brand is featured during the Cedarville show. Meninga said he has been trying to have the show feature some lesser celebrated, but still unique, models in recent years.
This year’s car show will be bittersweet for many following the passing of longtime participants Al Leonard, of Pickford, Cleon Moss, of Hessel, and Michael Winnick, of Sault Ste. Marie. Leonard’s passion for Studebakers led to their selection as the featured car this year, and he was planning to bring a trio of them before his Saturday, July 4, passing. His widow is working to bring one of the cars to the show. One of Leonard’s Studebakers appears on the show’s poster. Moss’ son is also looking to bring his dad’s beloved 1951 Willys Jeepster to the show.
Meninga enjoys the diversity of the lineup, with sporty and classic models displayed alongside the everyday cars that everyone grew up with and enjoyed. Many entrants are locals from across the Eastern Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula. Following Friday’s show, some of the entered cars will travel to Hessel for a Saturday display during the boat show.