Time to rev your engines for a good cause.
The 14th Annual Orchard Beach Annual Classic Car and Motorcycle Show 2014 will take place in the beach’s parking lot on Sunday, September 21 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a throng of car buffs, vendors and celebrity guests on hand to raise funds for 9/11 victims’ families and several charities. The rain date is Sunday, September 28.
The exciting car show usually draws 2000 to 2500 classic cars, 800 to 1000 motorcycles, and about 10,000 to 15,000 spectators, said John Monsolino, vice-president of the Eastcoast Classic Car Association, which hosts the yearly event.
There is a $10 entry fee for each spectator, $20 for a car with two people, and a $10 extra for a police-escorted motor cycle run to the World Trade Center site and back.
“Since 2001, we have donated about $500,000 to the Widows and Orphans fund of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association’s 9/11 fund,” said Monsolino, who added that several other charities have received about $52,000.
This year, there is a new charity, he said. For the first time, the Orchard Beach Car show will raise money for the St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital. St. Jude’s helps pediatric cancer patients. Celebrities should be signing autographs on one of two stages, he added, with the other stage for comedic and musical performances.
Among the sports and entertainment celebrities expected to be there are WCBS-FM D.J. Joe Causi, the Master of Ceremonies; Burt Young, a celebrated actor who played ‘Paulie’ in the movie series Rocky; Comedian Victor Dibitetto; five-time world champion boxer Iran “The Blade” Barkley; singer Yolanda Slocum, who will perform the national anthem; five-time Golden Gloves winner Mark Breland; World Bantamweight and Super Bantamweight champion boxer Junior Jones; current WBA middleweight boxing champion Danny Jacobs; as well as cast members of Jerseylicious and Carfellas.
All of this fanfare only adds to the classic cars on display, stretching all the way back to the days of the Ford Model-T to the present day classics.
Spectators should be able to look under the hoods and inside some of the real classics.
The show has been held at Orchard Beach since 2002, with the show in 2001 held literally at what was then known as “Ground Zero,” close to the site of the original World Trade Center in the month following the terrorist attacks, said Monsolino. The show was founded by Joe Caldwell, a former NYPD highway cop who worked at Ground Zero.
Monsolino joined Caldwell a few years later, and the show has blossomed into one of the most successful car shows in the region.
“The cars come from Connecticut, New Jesey, New Hampshire, and sometimes in trailers from as far away as the south,” said Monsolino. “It is one of the largest one-day car shows on the east coast.”
For more information, please visit www.orchardbeachcarshow.com.
