By Paula Scott
The Bluffton Lions Club has a pretty good recipe for its Festival of Wheels, one that they’ve tinkered with for 55 years. On June 16, the Lions cooked up a show that attracted 266 entries to downtown Bluffton. The main ingredients are vehicles—cars, trucks, motorcycles and tractors—that under the hands of an ordinary owner would be past their expiration date. From time to time the head chef changes. The special sauce—the weather—is a little unpredictable. Food, music and raffle tickets are sprinkled on for extra flavor.
Here’s the Icon’s sampling of the show, which spanned the afternoon and evening of the Friday before Father’s Day:
Entries were angle-parked on Main Street from just shy of Jefferson (A to Z Meats) to Franklin (the post office). Elm street offered Bubba C BBQ and tables for dining; show organizers were happy to announce that show attendees ate it all up. Vine Street as well as adjacent blocks of Church-Cherry St. were filled with vehicles, while the Citizens National Bank parking lot was reserved for tractors and Luginbuhl homemade ice cream.
During the show there was a presentation in memory of two individuals who were exceptionally well known to the Festival of Wheels, Larry Dudgeon and Jim Bemiller. Larry’s Florida Highway Patrol car was featured on the plaques given to award winners; his obituary noted that he worked on cars his entire life. (The Icon found a Florida appreciation of Larry’s love of cars HERE.) Jim Bemiller, the proud owner of a 1931 Ford Model A, was the president of the Bluffton Lions Club at the time of his passing in June 2023.
The Lions brought in loud speakers and DJ Mike Schnell to make announcements and play music coordinated with the eras that dominate the show, including Elvis, The Beach Boys and The Beatles.
While the festival looked busy in the afternoon, it was really rocking come evening. The 50-50 raffle stirred up interest just prior to the drawing, with a prize of $930. Numerous gift certificates from local businesses were donated for followup prizes.
Dick Boehr, introduced as “a spark for Bluffton” who was instrumental in starting the Festival of Wheels, joined lead organizer Dan Groman to award prizes for the top 25 cars as well as “best of” categories and best of show:
BEST OF SHOW - 1957 Ford Thunderbird - Val John Harris
LARRY DUDGEON MEMORIAL AWARD - 1991 Mustang SSP - Family of Larry Dudgeon
LION’S CHOICE - 1937 Humber Limousine - Ryan Patten
BEST MOTORCYCLE - 1973 Norton Commando - Del Gratz
SPONSOR’S CHOICE - 1969 Chevy Camaro - Scott Meyer
1st PLACE TRACTOR - Massey Harris Mustang - Delbert Henry
Those who stayed to the show's end were rewarded with the sight and sound of the many entries parading south on Main St. at 8:00 p.m.
