Milwaukee Area Volkswagen Club's Volksfest 2001
June 9, 2001

Several of the club members and myself had an enjoyable day at the MAVC's Volksfest yesterday. Nick and I started our day early, leaving the house at 6 am in the Sun Bug. We met up with Billy and Julia in their 78 green and white Turtle Bus, Scoobs (Troy Schultz) and Taz in Scoobs' 64 Sundial, and Tracey Buttles' in his 74 light blue bug at the Wisconsin Farms Restaurant parking lot in Oshkosh.

We caravaned to Milwaukee together with no breakdowns. It was a nice morning cruise and we stayed together easily. We did catch a couple stop lights in the middle of changing but we were able to slow down enough for everyone to catch back up. The day turned out to be one of the best sunny days we have had in quite a while. The show and swap meet was held at Concours Motors in Milwaukee (located on the Northeast side of Milwaukee pretty close to the lake shore). We were parked by classes and it was in the back blacktop parking lot so by midday it got pretty warm. It was still a good time and good to see many folks I hadn't seen in quite a while. Nick staked out the swap area while I set up my display for Hubert the Sun Bug.

Nick found a couple things at the swap but it was considerably small compared to the swap we had gone to in Michigan. There was a couple toy vendors and t-shirt sellers as well. Mofoco and Beezer's Buggies were there too. I got the chance to talk to Bill from Beezer's Buggies and they have confirmed that they will be coming to our VW show in Appleton in August. Please make their trip to our show worthwhile, so that they will come back next year. The artist who does sketches of the cars was there, too. He will likely be at our show this year, as well.

Brent Freeman had his 76 Westy at the show and had a small toy display as well. Brian Zuhse and Rick Werth showed up later in the day to check out the show. The group just kind of hung out at Scoobs bus because he had a nice awning for shade from the sun. We also spent some time at Brian Holcomb's (Der Busbesitzer Gruppe) recently featured VW Trends bus. Scoobs and I spent some time putting show flyers in cars for the August show. Thank you Scoobs and Billy for volunteering. It went a lot quicker with help.

Throughout the day there were raffles to benefit Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. They also had an auction for some VW items that made additional money for another charity. There was a DJ throughout the day with good music. Food served was typical grilled food, chips, water, and soda. At the end of the show, we gathered for the awards ceremony. Two of our club members were proud recipients of awards. In the Stock Bug 68 and later class, Tracey Buttles walked away with the first place plaque. In the ghia class, John Benz walked away with one of the plaques (sorry, I can't remember which one). Maybe, John can fill us in on this. There were several awards won by members of the DBG, as well.

After the ceremony, Tracey, Scoobs and Taz, and Nick and I loaded up our dubs and headed for Oshkosh. When we left Concours and got to the main road, we found a red bug stranded in the middle lane of traffic. He had stalled and frantically tried to restart his poor bug. But the bug was flooded and did not want to start. Nick and the guys got out to help push start the guy and soon we were all ready to go again. Of course, I was in the wrong lane for our turn so we had to do a quick lane change to make our exit.

The rest or our cruise was easier until Nick decided to be his rebellious self. Nick always makes my life interesting in one way or another. He decided to make my day by playing with the hazard lights. I was ready to leave him stranded at the gas station after this. We all had a good laugh about it and I let Nick drive so that he could keep himself occupied and out of trouble the rest of the way home. The rest of the trip was uneventful and Tracey stopped by the house for a bit before heading on to Manawa. Thanks to everyone who made our cruise fun, especially Nick, and to everyone who came to the show. It was a wonderful day and great to see everyone again.

Sherri