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Plymouth, Dodge, Fargo, DeSoto, Chrysler, Imperial, Maxwell, Chalmers,
Jeep and Eagle & related Automobiles.     All Mopar /  All Years /  All Models         

                              2012 WPC Northwest Regional Meet  

                                  Hosted by the WPC Club, Pacific Wonderland Region

                                                      July 26 – 29, 2012

                                                            Keizer, Oregon

The 2012 WPC Northwest Regional Meet hosted by the Pacific Wonderland Region, and our guests were members of the Puget Sound Region and the Vancouver Island Region.  It was held in Keizer, Oregon, just north of Salem, the capitol of Oregon. The headquarters hotel was the Keizer Renaissance Inn, and they were wonderful hosts.  Keizer is situated in the beautiful Willamette Valley, with lots of scenic roads, and very close to the Powerland Museum complex in Brooks, Oregon, the site of our Saturday car show. 

Cars were arriving all afternoon on Thursday at the Keizer Renaissance Inn, and after they checked into the hotel and registered for the meet, many made use of the car wash facilities.  The festivities officially started Thursday evening with the Ice Cream Social, something that is becoming somewhat of a tradition for our club.  The Keizer Room of the hotel was a great place to hold the event, with plenty of seating.  As people ate their ice cream, I made some welcoming remarks and Dick Romm outlined the tours that were to take place the next morning.  It was a very nice evening of conversation and fellowship. 

Friday morning dawned with a heavy overcast, but the sun came out in the late morning.  The two different tour groups formed and went on their separate ways.  One tour went to the Dentzel American Carousel Museum and Albany Carousel Studio in Albany, Oregon.  Members took a beautiful drive south to Albany, including a ferry boat ride.  Once there, they experienced the process of constructing a hand carved full-size carousel.  Volunteer artists were carving a menagerie of animals in historic styles.  Lunch was at Cappie’s Brewhouse on downtown Albany. 

The other tour went on a scenic drive to Silver Falls State Park, the largest in the state.  As we approached the park and gained in elevation, a heavy mist enveloped our cars. We stopped at the South Falls and visited the lodge built by the CCC in the 1930’s.  Many members took the walk to south falls where we were able to actually walk behind the waterfall.  We then drove to the town of Silverton, where we had a great lunch at historic Mac’s Place, in business since 1890.  We had lunch on the balcony overlooking Silver Creek. 

Saturday morning, and the big day of the car show had arrived.  The weather was partly cloudy in the morning, but very pleasant.  So as to not overwhelm the gate, club members led three different tours over to Powerland, the last one arriving about 9:00 AM.  The car show was held during the annual “Steam Up” at the Powerland complex in Brooks, Oregon. The Antique Powerland Museum Association encompasses 15 museums and heritage organizations operating in partnership.  The Great Oregon Steam-Up is the largest event at Antique Powerland during the year and involves all of the museums and many other participants. One of the unique aspects of the event was that most of the equipment was operating. A parade took place at 1:30PM and included vintage steam powered vehicles, tractors, trucks, and automobiles. The steam powered sawmill operated twice a day and the vintage trolley toured the site perimeter.  In addition, there was a large swap meet on the grounds.  Needless to say, there was plenty for our members to do after they completed their voting in our car show.  

Speaking of the car show, we had 50 cars in total on the show field.  It was a wonderful display representing a wide variety of Mopar years and models, including some trucks. A very special thanks goes to the members of the Cascade Pacific Plymouth Club for bringing their Plymouths to grace our show field.  The results of the Peoples Choice voting are listed below. 

The Awards Banquet was held at the Headquarters Hotel.  We had 70 people present in the beautiful banquet room of the Keizer Renaissance. We had some very nice door prizes donated by some of our members that we gave away.  The food was delicious, the camaraderie was wonderful, and we presented some awards.  But we saved the best for last - The Mopar PentaStars – Ian Smale, Jon Carson, Gene Kahn, and Ron Wenzel, regaled us with their song parodies after the program. It was a great close to a great meet. 

I’d like to extend my sincere appreciation and gratitude to our 2012 Meet Committee. They were simply wonderful.  Each one has a lot of experience with Regional Meets, and they knew what to do and took care of business.  It’s a tribute to their skill and dedication that such a small committee was able to put on this event, and especially so since everything went so smoothly and according to plan.

2012 Regional Meet Committee and Event Workers:

John and Arlys Chesnutt, Duane & Katherine Benedict and grandson Matthew, Don Feller, Dick Romm, Norm Purdy, Byron Richardson, Paul and Sharon Lawson, Jeff Gretz, Bruce Kerslake, Patti Duthie. 

Thanks to everyone who attended the meet -  you all made it possible.

 Happy Motoring,

David Duthie

President, Pacific Wonderland Region

                                 My take on the meet,   by Ian Smale,   webmaster, Victoria, BC Canada.

As a resident of the Pacific Northwest and a member of the WPC Club,  we always try to attend the WPC Club Regional Meets that are hosted by the three northwest WPC Club Regions.   The Vancouver Island Region,  the Puget Sound Region and the Pacific Wonderland Region have taken turns hosting these meets for many years now and they are always a lot of fun,  and a chance to renew acquaintances with olds friends, not to mention seeing a lot of great Mopars!  This year the meet was hosted by the Pacific Wonderland Region,  in Keizer, Oregon,  a suburb of Salem. People come from long and far for these annual events because it is such a great time. Even a Columbus criminal defense attorney would make a trip to be with like-minded Chrysler enthusiasts.

Tuesday,  July 24th we got up early to catch the COHO ferry from Victoria, BC to Port Angeles Washington.  The ferry line-up includes going through US Customs on our side while waiting for about an hour for the ferry to leave.   90 minutes after departure, around Noon we arrived on the US side, in Port Angeles a beautiful little community on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State.   After a quick break for lunch at McDonalds,  we headed down Coast Highway 101 on the far northwest coast of Washington.   Later in the day we arrived at a place called Ocean Shores,  where we stayed for the night.   The drive down there along the coast and through the forested areas was beautiful and mostly sunny but once we arrived at the destination it was overcast,  windy and COOL!   We left around 9 AM Wednesday morning for the drive over to the host Meet Hotel,  in Keizer,  Oregon.     Our arrival there was about 3 PM in the afternoon,  after continuing down 101 and then over to Interate-5,   which was busy, and by then the weather was sunny and up in the 80s F.   It was nice to get to the hotel,   but we were a day early before the meet was to start so we checked in, freshened up and had a nice dinner later at a local restaurant.  Two other local members checked into the hotel that evening.  Next morning,  Thursday was clear, sunny and warm, we did some local sight seeing around the city of Keizer, OR, which is right on the beautiful Willamette River.   Back to the hotel in the afternoon, and we greeted other members arriving from other parts of Oregon,  Washington,  Idaho and British Columbia.    Dinnertime had some of us over at a local restaurant and then back to the hotel for the Ice-Cream Social,  where everyone got re-acquainted and also met some new people whom we had not met at previous meets.   

Friday morning saw two groups depart for different tours that were arranged. Our tour was to Silver Falls, and  a very scenic route was taken through some beautiful country roads but the sky was overcast and there was a very light drizzle part of the time,  but hardly enough to get the cars wet, and our fearless leader,  David Duthie,  president of the Pacific Wonderland WPC kept the top down in his gorgeous 1964 Imperial.    The falls were beautiful  but it would have been nicer if the sun had been out.   We stayed about an hour on site,  and walked down right under the main falls.   The main falls flow over a very old lava flow from the Cascade Mountain Range which is all volcanic.   The area under the lava flow which was originally soil and trees has long ago eroded away,  so it is a large cavern that you can walk under and view the impressive falls from directly behind them,  an awesome sight to say the least.  Then, back up the hill to the lodge,  where a cheery fire was burning in the large fireplace.  Yes, it was July and a fire was burning.   Remember this is the Pacific Northwest,  where weather can change anytime in July.   Clear skies are not always guaranteed!!   We gathered together back in the cars for a 12 mile drive downhill to the town of Silverton,  where we stopped at a local tavern-style restaurant for a great lunch  on the patio which was right above the Silverton River.  The sky was now clearing and it was warm out.   The trip back to the hotel was through some scenic, and shall we say fragrant,  farming country.   The car wash station was setup in the hotel parking lot for us,  so some of us gave our cars a going over to freshen them up, and by this time the temperature was up in the seventies in full sun, which was very pleasant.     Friday evening saw several groups of us go for dinner at local restaurants,  then back to the hotel for another ice cream social provided by the host club.    Of course after that the guys always seem to gravitate out to the parking lot to kick tires and talk until dark.   We wish to thank our dear wives for allowing us to revel in this.   

On Saturday morning we all left for the car show, not too far from the hotel, which was held  at Antique Powerland,  which was also the day that Poweland holds their annual Steam-Up.  http://www.antiquepowerland.com/      Antique Powerland is a power equipment heritage site operated by the Antique Powerland Museum Association, a non-profit organization, which was originally established by a group of enthusiasts dedicated to the preservation, restoration and demonstration of steam powered equipment, antique farm machinery and implements.  It is a huge site,  and was almost impossible to see everything that was going on.  Many steam engines were operating,   there were numerous displays of old farm tractors and equipment, several museums on site holding antique trucks and machinery,   plus a swap meet was being held that day,  and food vendors were on site to cater to the appetites,  and there were two other car shows happening besides our Mopar show  - one for 55-57 Thunderbirds and another of mixed makes.    The cars were placed for show on a lush green grassy area.   Weather was absolutely perfect,   blue skies with a few clouds floating past,  and temperatures kept in the mid seventies all day which made for a very pleasant time.   We were allowed full run of the entire complex which was open to the public that day.   Many people had their old steam engines operating and even some were driving around the site to show them off.  

Around 4 PM  we started leaving Powerland to head back to the hotel for nap  - cleanup - preparing for the banquet - etc.   Six PM came around and members started heading to the banquet room for happy hour.  A fabulous catered buffet dinner began at 7 PM.   Awards were given out and the Fabulous MoPar PentaStars performed 7 songs for the enthralled dinner guests.   Singers in the group included myself,  Jon Carson,  Ron Wenzel and Gene Kahn.   We've been doing this for several years at these meets and since everyone seems to enjoy it and have some good laughs,  we'll continue to do  it until they start throwing tomatoes at us.   Thanks again to the Pacific Wonderland Region  of the WPC Club for hosting this.  I know the time it takes to put on one of these meets,  as I've been involved in many of them over the past 30 years. 

Sunday morning came all too soon as some of us met in the hotel's breakfast room while we ate and said our goodbyes, until next year.   We left Keizer around 9 AM  and headed back home.  We arrived at the Tsawassen Ferry Terminal in British Columbia,  not far over the international border  around 4 PM in time to catch the 5 PM ferry home to Victoria,  on Vancouver Island.    Till next year,

Ian Smale.

Photos below reflect our trip leaving Victoria, BC Canada and driving to Keizer, ( part of greater Salem) Oregon for the meet.

On the Coho Ferry,  from Victoria BC to Port Angeles Washington.	Above and Below:  Driving the Olympic Peninsula,  Washington State.
Crossing the Bridge over the Columbia River from WA to OR.	On the Willamette River,  Keizer,  Oregon.   We did some sight seeing after arriving in Keizer, the day before the meet started.
	Friday's Tour to Silver Falls
	At the Banquet,  Saturday Evening
The Fabulous MoPar PentaStars!!	On the way Home,  at the ferry terminal,  Tsawassen,  BC  My son Brandon shot the video below, a compilation of our trip.   There were 2 other car shows at the same site as ours,  and there are some slides of some of those other cars in this video.
People’s Choice Vote Results: Plymouth 1^st Place: 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe convertible George & Ana Haley, Federal Way, Wa. 2^nd Place: 1933 Plymouth Roadster Pat & Patty Burst Cascade Pacific Plymouth Club Dodge 1^st Place: TIE 1962 Dodge Polara 500 convertible John & Shirley Perry, Kenmore, WA 1^st Place: TIE 1949 Dodge Wayfarer Richard Mayhew, Eugene, OR 2^nd Place: 1967 Dodge Charger fastback Rick & Laurel Berry, Auburn, WA DeSoto 1^st Place: 1956 DeSoto Adventurer Larry Zapone, Woodinville, WA 2^nd Place: 1958 DeSoto Fireflite 2-door hardtop Paul & Marja Mitchell, North Saanich, B.C.	Chrysler 1^st Place: 1958 Chrysler 300 2-door hardtop Frank Daly, Sammamish, WA 2^nd Place: 1960 Chrysler Saratoga 2-door hardtop Ian & Shannon Smale, Victoria, B.C. Imperial 1^st Place: 1956 Imperial Southampton Byron & Linda Richardson, Tillamook, OR 2^nd Place: 1964 Imperial Crown convertible David & Patti Duthie, Portland, OR OTHER AWARDS: Oldest Car Driven to the Meet 1934 Dodge coupe Ivor & Nancy Garbush, Granite Falls, WA Hard Luck Award Rick & Laurel Berry, Auburn, WA Long Distance Award Joseph & Charley Brown, Summerland, B.C. Bill Call Award (Given to a Plymouth) 1950 Plymouth P20 2-door sedan Gene & Alice Coakley, Centralia, WA Best of Show Award 1932 Chrysler CI George Beebe, Eugene, OR

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