Rogue Valley Street Rods

Hardesty’s Christmas Lights Cruise

On December 18th 2007, about 20 RVSR members met at the Eagles Hall in Medford, then boarded Harold & Joan Hardesty’s 24 passenger bus. This beautifully appointed carrier is equipped with heating, A/C, lots of interior lighting and comfortable soft seating. To make the unit even more complete, Harold has installed a full service bar, a large fridge an icemaker and a sink.

Once everyone has some libation in hand (all except Harold who’s driving) we set off for the east Medford residential area. Within minutes we are treated with some of the smaller Christmas light shows. Harold & Joan have mapped out a route that takes us up and down several streets to view the array of Santa’s, nativity scenes, trees, eaves & roofs festooned with thousands of white, colored and flashing lights.

About and hour into the tour, we turned into Greystone Circle where almost all the residents adorn the front of their homes with every lawn ornament ever made, trees & shrubs are ablaze with all colors and styles of lights on the eaves, the roofs with walks lined of candy canes. It’s a wonderful free show, and the residents collect hundreds of tins of food that is later donated to the needy. Due to the number of cars ogling the 5 block extravaganza, it takes about 20 minutes to make it in and out. Many viewers walk the sidewalks with their families taking pictures as well as local TV filming covering the spectacular displays.

The last stop of the evening was on the way back to town where around 10 homeowners on East Jackson do a nice street array. The highlight of the evening is Ron Bartlett’s place which includes his 58 Ford Retractable and home covered in lights and ribbon plus his homemade cabinet of a miniature band who all move, play instruments and ring out Christmas carols. Ron gets into the act too by dressing up in a Santa outfit and leads “the band” on his saxophone. Plays a mean tune too. He had taught one of our gang how to play (several years ago) he did a few bars of Jingle Bells and delighted us all.

Several of us had not eaten dinner, so we capped another swell RVSR car club event at the local Sizzler, proving once again – this club loves to cruise and eat!

September 13-15, 2007

For the past 7 years Scott & Diane Ivers of Medford, OR. have planned, arranged and hosted a fun long weekend cruise for ’32 Ford owners only to drive their rides through some of Oregon’s most scenic country, meet other ’32 owners, while dining, partying and traveling together.

Thursday
This years cruise began in Medford, then ran north to Roseburg, Drain and, west across Hwy 38 to the Bliss Hot Rod Bar & Grill at a pre-arranged stop for their pub food and grog as well as a meeting place to greet the other participants coming from as far South as Monterey, California, as far North as the Portland area and from Eastern Oregon. That afternoon everyone checks into our host motel, the Old Town Inn in Florence, Oregon, where pre-registered group rates make the stay pleasant and reasonable. All participants’ pickup “Goody Bags”, Registration Packets, T’s, Henley’s and Sweats, as pre-ordered, and sign up for the planned weekend activities. After a well-deserved happy hour, Thursday dinner is a catered meal at the motel, getting to know each other and perusing the Friday itinerary…

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On a beautiful valley morning, Saturday, June 30th, ’07 over 100 members of the Rogue Valley Street Rods, Jefferson State Street Rods and some of their friends gathered together in downtown Gold Hill to take part in Tommy and Debby Carr’s annual weekend fun cruise through the Rogue Valley. And away we go…

Via a short leg of the I 5 to Medford, the entourage swung over to the industrial area and stopped at the “Slick Kart Track” so the ‘Andretti’ types could hone their skills on the race circuit. From here it was a nice cruise over Highway 62 through Medford and White City to Eagle Point for a visit at the historic Butte Creek Mill and museum, recently enlarged and refurbished.

Back on Hwy.62 and north to Hwy 234 we’re cruising the newly updated 2 lane route through the rolling hills of Sam’s Valley dotted with many small farms and estate homes. The destination was west of Gold Hill to the beautiful Del Rio Vineyards where everyone enjoyed a fine lunch of fried chicken, ice cold watermelon and sampling of their latest grape delights. The owners have built a grassy rest area among the trees where we were able to take in the view of the vast rows of grape vines in the shade, while seated and eating at their new picnic tables.

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After registering, cheque sent and calendar marked, we’re ‘good to go’ to the ‘Fall Glass Egg Meet’, Sept. 14th to 16th, ’07. Our ‘Wagon Master’ Craig Breckenridge booked us into our old favorite, the Fort Langley RV park reserving 30 sites for our group. Since our last soiree here a year ago, the Provincial Gov’t. took over the park and surprisingly pumped a lot of money into it for a total renovation on a 3 phase program. We were all amazed at how much they had accomplished in such a short time considering the harsh winter this year.

They began by levelling the whole park, then installed a sewer system to every space, all new electrical service with 15 and 30 amps at each and some with 50 amps for the larger units. Each site was enlarged, fresh chipped granite gravel placed on all level pads and sturdy new picnic tables too. The entrance has been moved with a new building for the staff to operate check-ins and a 2 lane enlarged dump site for day users. Some landscaping, curbing and improved roads to the sites had been done with new directional signs and site numbering in place. For our creature comforts, the restrooms have been totally refurbished, additional facilities with all new fixtures, improved lighting and tile floors complete the buildings. The manager who had accommodated us so well in the past was retained as well as Dennis the chef who handles the small cafe.

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David Smigelski
photography by Tyler Maddox

October 01, 2007
There’s an old saying that even politicians and ugly buildings become respectable if they’re around long enough. The same could be said of street rodders, those rebellious boys and girls of yesteryear who once gave parents and town sheriffs nightmares.

Today’s street rodders don’t usually sport greased-back hair and lay stripes on Main Street anymore. They’re more likely to be successfully retired business people and professionals. Their rod runs, which used to be held on empty stretches of darkened highways or airport runways, have morphed into charity events, family barbecues and tourist draws. And the cars, those rumbling, chopped, souped-up machines that working-class kids could afford to own, now cost more than the houses their parents owned.

Distinctly Northwest Photo Gallery Street Rod Sculptor
When people speak of Tommy Carr, they use adjectives like “genius,” “master,” and “true talent” to describe his artistic prowess, superlatives you wouldn’t generally attach to the blue-collar profession of auto body painting and repair.

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