By Kathy Ahrendt

Summer and fall in North Carolina are festival and fair season. From Fiddler's to apples, kites to wooly worms if you can name it, there is probably a festival to celebrate it.

On the second Saturday in August the Waldensian festival is held in Valdese, a small town in our clubs “home area.” Held to remember the return of the Waldenses from exile in Switzerland to their native valleys in the Cottian Alps of Italy in 1689, the organizers bring in a wide variety unique crafts, great food, and top-quality entertainment for the festival goers.

The members of CVBMC are invited each year to bring their cars and set up a mini-car show for the crowds to view and enjoy. We set up in the Old Rock School parking lot, set up the chairs in the shade (it's always warm at this event) and talk to the visitors as they stroll by. We always see some old friends, meet some new ones and often sign up a few new members.

We had a good showing of LBCs this year and we enjoyed visiting all of the vendors that line the streets. There were plenty of “give away goodies” to grab, free watermelon, lots of free water, some games of chance to win some prizes and the best goodie were the samples of some really good ice cream. We did miss not getting the free bread this year – one of the main manufacturing plants of a large commercial baker is in the town and it always smells great driving through on baking days.

Around noon it was clear that lunch was in order. None of us really wanted to sit in the heat of the day so we decided to head out and have lunch at a local BBQ place just down the road a few miles. We have had club meetings at this restaurant so it sounded like the perfect spot to head to for our group. A chance to get some great food and cool off for a while.

Luckily this restaurant can handle anything – and they do it with a smile – so when we showed up with thirteen people, they pulled some tables together and we were seated right away. The food was tasty and many of us had enough to take home for another meal. Thanks JD's of Connelly Springs.

We look forward to the fall driving season and our next group of outings. The next town might just have a festival going on and need a “car show” to make it a special event.