Cars, visitors line streets of Bellefonte

By Eric Smith, For the CDT

BELLEFONTE — Intermittent downpours Saturday didn’t keep people away from the 21st annual Bellefonte Cruise. Though organizers admitted that the rain kept the numbers down, they were pleased to see that a regular stream of visitors still lined the streets and milled among the 250 to 300 well-kept vintage and new vehicles.

CDT/Melissa Doss

Various makes and models of cars are pictured along Allegheny Street during the 21st annual Bellefonte Cruise on Saturday, June 20, 2009. CDT/Melissa Doss

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“We have a lot of avid car, truck and motorcycle enthusiasts,” said Larry Lawson, Cruise committee chairman. “My hat goes off to them for being here. Where other events have three or four days and a rainy day doesn’t hurt them much, we only operate one day a year and have to take what we can get.”

Among the rain-soaked attendees was Judy Bryan, of Bellefonte. An annual supporter of the cruise, Bryan said she has never missed the car show and wasn’t about to let the rain keep her away.

“I have a T-shirt for every year the cruise has gone on,” Bryan said. “They’ve never been worn. I keep them to commemorate each year.”

This year’s T-shirt was especially significant as it had an image of her brother’s car on it. But beyond her own reasons for enjoying the car show, Bryan noted how important the show is to Bellefonte overall.

“This event is a great boost to the town,” she said.

Lawson agreed with that notion, stating that the purpose of the cruise is more than just bringing in tourists. It is about supporting the community.

“One of the areas that we like to support is education,” Lawson said.

Annually, the Bellefonte Cruise Award is given to a graduating Bellefonte senior who has enrolled in a technical school, college or trade school.

“With the economy the way it is, trades are more important than ever,” Lawson said. “There is always going to be a need to have people who are skilled in trades.”

He said the show is successful and continues to have a large draw while other shows have disappeared due to economic difficulty. He credited some of the success to the fact that the show changes a little every year and offers something new.

“This year, we have ‘Out with the old, in with the new,’ ” Lawson said. “We have the old vehicles and their new spinoffs.”

This year, a 1970 Shelby GT, a 1969 Z-28 Camaro, a 1969 Corvette and a 1970 Dodge Challenger came face to face with a 2010 GT Mustang, a 2010 SS Camaro, a 2010 Corvette and a 2010 Dodge Challenger.

Other key ingredients to the success of the cruise, he said, include the participation of local organizations and merchants, and the diverse offering of activities and events.

“We get great support from the Moose and Elks lodges,” he said. “We also have 20 to 30 merchants in town who participate. Whether they are offering haircuts or food, they all pitch in their own way. They help make it so there is something for everybody.”

Though many people were at the cruise mainly for the cars, some braved the rain strictly for a chance to ride in vintage rail coaches as the Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society hosted train rides to Pleasant Gap and back as part of the festivities.

William Kovl, whose daughter resides in the area, decided it would be a good time to visit from Clio, Mich., because of his recently developed love for the trains.

“There’s a history factor that caught my eye a few years ago,” Kovl said as he prepared to board the train’s caboose. “There’s a lot of history in Pennsylvania.”

For visitor Mary Shumaker, from Somerset, the lure to Bellefonte was getting to see the refurbished train in person.

“We made a special trip just to ride the train,” she said. “We’re not staying.”

The trains come to Bellefonte by way of Jeff Pontius, vice president of the Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad, out of Northumberland. Pontius actually owns the historic rail cars and has refurbished them over the years. The vintage Tuscan red cars were refurbished to the way they looked in the 1930s and 1940s, complete with World War II-era popular art inside.

“I own the equipment,” he said. “It is something I do out of the love for doing it. I was asked to help out for this event. It’s good to be able to help out different groups and organizations from time to time.”