Vintage cars, music and fun will fill City Park

The Court Street Cruisers will present the 22nd Annual Cruise Day Show and Shine, Saturday, Aug. 6 at the Weiser City Park, next to the Washington County Courthouse, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The day will feature a chance to check out beautiful restored classic cars in the shade, listen to live music from The River Brothers band, and a chance to see the participants “Drag the Gut” as they cruise down State Street. 

 The Court Street Cruisers is a non-profit organization founded in 1999 and the local group sponsors the annual cruise as a fun event for families and car lovers of all ages. 

 Doug Karel has been involved in Cruisers from the beginning and participated in other local car shows prior to that. Karel has always been interested in cars and has been rebuilding cars for over 35 years.   

 He first began working on cars studying autobody work at CSI but found that he didn’t enjoy that part of working on cars as much as he thought he would.

 He moved to Pocatello and studied upholstery work at a trade school. When his wife’s job brought them to Weiser, he began his own upholstery business for both furniture and automotive upholstery in 1972.  

 Karel has worked on the upholstery of countless rare and classic cars, and has four cars of his own that he has fully restored: A 1953 Ford F100, a 1954 F100, a 1955 Chevy Bel Air and a 1958 Chevy DelRay. When the work involved engine work or bodywork that he was not able to do, he was often able to trade the upholstery services. 

 Through his business, Karel has had the opportunity to work on the restoration of countless classic cars from Mustangs and Corvettes. One rare car he remembers was a 1934 Chevy Coupe.  

 Over the years, Karel has had a few employees and apprentices but he has mostly done all the work himself. He did share that he fondly remembers working with eight to 10 talented youth through the high school work study program. 

 Karel shared that he always looks forward to Court Street Cruise and he hopes the community will come out and enjoy this event.  The park always has great shade, so it’s not too hot and there is something for everyone. The cars will bring up memories  from every decade. 

 Along with the cars and live music, the Knights of Columbus will be serving breakfast and lunch and Legends on Main will be there with a beer garden. Karel also made a commemorative quilt with the Cruise T-shirts from over the years for a quilt raffle. 

 As a nonprofit organization, any money the Cruisers raise from the raffle will go towards a scholarship for a Weiser High School student.