Thursday, October 05, 2006
Street festivals are one of the charming features of Ocean Springs. At various times during the year, the city blocks off the entire downtown to create a walking area quite popular with the tourists who come from all over.
And one of the most popular festivals of the year for the entire Gulf Coast is a classic car show called, “Cruisin’ the Coast.” “Cruisin’ the Coast” is not just an Ocean Springs event, but for the next three days, our city (along with practically every other city on the Mississippi Gulf Coast) will be inundated with shiny old cars. That nasty old Hurricane Katrina stole the event in 2005, but in 2006 classic car enthusiasts seem to have returned en force with their prized automobiles – somewhere in the neighborhood of four to five thousand prized automobiles.
To be frank, I don’t know the first thing about classic cars. In fact, I don’t even know how to begin an automotive conversation. But I do like to take pictures, so this afternoon while my daughter was at “kids’ club,” I walked through downtown Ocean Springs with my digital camera to capture the sights.
Looking at the REALLY old cars is special with me for one reason. My dad was a teenager in the 1930s, and believe it or not, his dad was an early car salesman. I can remember my childhood in the 1970s when the Christmas parade would roll through downtown Paragould, Arkansas. I still remember the old-timey cars inching through as we stood and shivered in the brutal cold each December, and my dad pointing out which of those old beauties he used to own.
My dad was fifty years older than me, and by extension, was much older than the dads of all my friends. This, of course, meant that his stories were different than the stories my friends had of their dads, and I cherished those things that set him apart in that age-old battle of whose dad was the coolest. I guess classic cars were one of those things for me that made my dad special.
Which is why, even though I know absolutely nothing about them, I enjoyed their posing for my camera this afternoon under a brilliant October blue sky.
