By Christopher Johnson
Returning to the Clare Church of the Nazarene this past Saturday was the always successful CCN Car Show and Craft Fair, located at 10160 S. Grant Avenue.
This is the nonprofit’s fourth year hosting the event.
Utilizing 10 to 12 acres of property, the space behind the church’s Texaco fueling station was populated in mass with just about every kind of car, truck, bike, rat rod, jalopy, and roadster you could imagine. Each with its own build of personality and the latest mods.
It’s quite remarkable that a local church can draw so much horsepower to a single grassy location, but with a turnout comparable to some of the largest Amish events, they manage to bring in more people every year.
From the early morning vehicle check-ins to the grand trophy ceremony in the afternoon, the event featured a wide variety of attractions. Guests enjoyed everything from kids’ Hot Wheels drag racing and a hot dog eating contest, to live performances and a high-energy Elvis gig. The craft fair buzzed with constant foot traffic as well, while the silent auction drew competitive bids throughout the day. Admission was, as always, free and open to the community. The only mandatory expense was the $20 entry fee for competing show vehicles.
Catering this event were a familiar handful of food vendors, Willie’s Wienie Wagon Express, the Patty Wagon, Noble Concessions, and Gramp’s Kettle Corn. Also, tip for next year: mingle near the hot dog eating contest long enough after the contest, and you can score some free dogs.
The car show was staffed by roughly 40 parishioners, all car enthusiasts who were ready to go above and beyond to help visitors. Including founder, Bruce Owens.
“I love cars”, he states plainly, gesturing to his own showpiece: an immaculate 1957 Bel-Air, parked fashionably behind the Texaco stage. “I’ve gone to a lot of charity shows and I just thought this would be good event that would get people on our church grounds. I want everybody to feel comfortable.”
In that regard, the church performed well.
The property was sprawling with people from all walks, enjoying the sights, smells and attractions. Quite literally, you could walk laps around the grounds and notice something new each time. Giving every single car, truck, or bike the appreciation it deserves would probably require another day or so for the average person. These gems were lined up and polished as far as the eye can see.
What really separates CCN is the emphasis on community engagement. Bruce believes the church enjoys this level of success each year, not only because it has the acres to do it, but because it’s so much more than cars, trucks, looks and chrome. It takes the typical car show model and funnels it into a festival-style atmosphere designed for everybody. Making it a great day out for the whole family. That includes pets too, like the Beagle Driving the Pink Jeep.
Bruce elaborates, “We got cars revving up at 1 o’clock, somebody singing on the stage, Hot Wheels drag racing. Food trucks. A hot dog eating contest. We have the Centershot archery range; you don’t get this at other shows. You just get a long day of sitting in the sun.”
Bruce also recognizes patriotism as another underlying theme in the show every year, inviting people to appreciate a stunning 1951 Chevy pickup named “Fallen Hero’s Dream Ride.” It serves as a tribute to Phillip Vinnedge and the 25 soldiers from his unit who were killed in action during their 2010 deployment to Afghanistan. The truck is passionately adorned with imagery that honors their sacrifice, and probably the most emotionally resonating vehicle on display.
Meanwhile, inside the church itself, an equally successful craft show was in full swing with 36 local vendors. Much like the car show outside, the CCN Craft Fair was met with great attendance, and according to Kate Field, who was in charge, the results were satisfactory.
“Every year it gets bigger and better,” says Field. “We’ve learned from our mistakes each time and try to improve on it any way we can. We take a lot of advice and feedback from our vendors, and of course from people who just want to come and walk around”
Many of the wares include hand-made items, baked goods, antiques. Some vintage curiosities. One woman even had wood prints for sale. So even fine art is welcome.
The only complaint that either Bruce or Kate had about the event was parking. The parking lot was badly congested and proved stressful at times. Mitigating the parking issue is something the church looks to recalibrate for next year’s show.
Otherwise, it was an optimal day with perfect weather.
At 3 PM, the event concluded with a much-anticipated award ceremony. 86 trophies were presented at the Texaco stage, all expertly crafted with gold ornaments and ruby red accents. These honors were selected from a pool of 265 registered show cars, across a wide variety of categories.
The top tier awards recognized: Best of Show (big congratulations to Mike Ireland and his popular rat rod build); Best Car (Pinky Hosford), Best Truck (Terry Eddy), Best Bike (Jim Reinke), Best Ratrod (Buzz Sumerix), People’s Choice Car (Bob and Sherry Johnston), People’s Choice Truck (Pete Champoise), People’s Choice Bike (Wayne Malebayro), People’s Choice Rat Rod (Chan Warren), Best Muscle (Tom Moreau), Best Chrome and Shine (Joe Meinke), and Most Unique (Tom Ellis).
There were also awards for each make. So, best Jeep, Chevy, Pontiac, ect.
Trophies for best decade followed, from the 20s, through the 70s. Along with best imported vehicles as well in their own divisions.
This also included specialty trophies, such as a wash bucket for pre-registration entrants and three Pastor’s Choice awards. It’s worth noting that not many car shows offer a pre-registration process, so CCN takes pride in seizing another opportunity to sweeten the deal. The “6 Slickest” cars were awarded with a nifty oil can style trophy.
And of course, there’s trophies for the kids.
Kids drag racing winners, Baily Baldwin (1st) and Jackson Ellsworth (2nd). Scale model winners were Isabella “Ghostbuster” (1st) and Toby Baldwin (2nd). Congrats to all of them.
Overall, the 2025 CCN was an idyllic success for both the church and the community. Yielding record numbers and memorable moments that are still being shared on social media still, practically a week later.
“This isn’t a churchy car show”, assures Bruce. “We’re not out here singing hymns, right? We got an Elvis.”
But if somebody wanted to attend Sunday service the next day at 9:30 AM, Both he and his congregation would be ecstatic to welcome them.
