The 30th annual Helper Arts Festival is coming up quickly, starting on Thursday, Aug. 15, and running until Sunday, Aug. 18. As a part of this festival there will be a car show which celebrates the artistry that goes into vehicles, which will be held Saturday, Aug. 17 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Castle Country Radio sat down with Jake Gray, the event organizer for the car show to talk about the event.
Opening up our conversation, Gray described the car show and what it brings to the Helper Arts Festival. ”It’s pretty similar to most of the local car shows, but it’s in conjunction with the Arts Festival.” explained Gray,” it’s right on Main Street, right near the music stage and all the vendors. It’s all mixed in together, and it just adds one more level of dynamic to the entire event, which is a pretty big deal for Helper.”
When people think of car shows, they don’t typically picture art festivals, but the creation and maintenance of these cars is an art in and of itself,” a lot of stuff is each individual builder, it’s what their vision is, which is the same thing as what people think of as art. Everybody’s got a different perspective or a different medium, and you see that with these cars. And I think that’s the neat thing as a spectator to look at, is see how everybody’s ideas work.”
Gray also took the time to dive into some specifics for the event,” we’ll have the whole north end of Main Street tied up from the St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, all the way down to the post office will all be designated for the car show … registration starts at 9 a.m. and the registration fee is $20 cash.”
Next, Gray explained what attendees of the show should expect,” I think mostly for people who haven’t been, just like anything else, you don’t touch stuff. Be careful with how close you stand in case you scratch a paint job or something.” he continued,” But if you take the time to stop and talk to a car owner, they’re more than likely willing to get up, visit with you, show you things, let you sit in their car if you want, especially the young kids. I think this is a good opportunity for younger generations to get excited about this kind of thing.”
Rounding out our interview, Gray talked about what he enjoys most about the Helper Arts Festival,” the best part for me is we’ve always enjoyed the variety of food and the music. The live music is hard to beat and it’s such a great weekend … I’ve always loved what the Helper Arts Festival brings to the table.”
The Helper Arts Festival is celebrating 30 years of existence, making it a celebration you are not going to want to miss. The Helper Arts Festival Car Show will be held Saturday, Aug. 17 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Helper Main Street. For more information, you can visit the Helper Arts Festival website here. For car show-specific questions you can reach Gray at jakeg.helper@yahoo.com.
