2005 Wrap-up
After 2-1/2 years of planning, the first ever GLRFG launched on Friday June 24, 2005. We had 109 registered cars and 106 on the show grounds. Participants began arriving on Thursday and we were extremely pleased with the turnout in spite of the nuclear heat! Temperatures during the days were in the mid-90s with high humidity. Which is very unusual for this time year in Michigan.
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Registration and tech line opened on Friday, June 24 and participants were encouraged to join in the show n’ shine activities. DJ Dan played tunes and spectator’s filtered through the show grounds to check out what was going on. A Mexican buffet at the Wilderness Bar and Grill wrapped up Friday’s portion of the event.
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Saturday, June 25, judging lanes opened at 9:00 a.m. and ran until 3:00 p.m. Registration was going well as was the teching of show cars. Music was heard in the background all day and the show lot was filling up with wonderful Firebirds of every generation and attracting Cabela’s customers into the show area. Around 5:00 p.m., Firebirds started lining up for the first ever parade from Cabela’s to downtown Dundee to join the MayFly Festival activities. Deputy Dave on his motorcycle and 2 police cruisers escorted the 53 Firebirds nonstop to the downtown parking area. What a sight it was watching the group head out! Once parked, everyone was invited to enjoy the Festival activities.
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Sunday, June 26, started out already hot! Judging lanes opened at 9:00 a.m. along with registration and teching. Registration and teching closed at 11:30 with judging lanes closing at noon. While the organizers worked on class results, Jason of Cabela’s made his rounds to select the “Hosts” choice, and NPD went on the hunt for their favorite Firebird. All day long DJ Dan played the tunes, door prize winners were announced throughout the day as well as 50-50 and Monroe Cancer Connection’s raffle items.
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The award ceremony began around 3:00 with Mike Leggio giving background into our show, thanked Cabela’s, NPD, our other sponsors, and friends who helped with the show. See 2005 Awards page for specific winners and photos. Jason presented Cabela’s trophy for “Hosts” choice, and Mike on behalf of NPD (who had to leave early) presented the trophy for Platinum Sponsor’s choice. There was a special auction held for some commemorative mugs and 1/20 scale Firebirds (2nd & 4th gen). Awards were wrapped up by 4:00 p.m. and everyone was again thanked for coming and told that next year’s show would be announced at a later date.
For folks staying Sunday night, there was a trek to Monroe, MI to a restaurant called Pete’s Garage. It’s a 50’s kind of automobile decorated restaurant. Rather fitting as a closing event for the show.
GLRFG 2005 was a stunning success. It exceeded our expectations in every way. Cabela’s was equally impressed with the quality and variety of Firebirds. The good news is they received no complaints from customers about parking problems or anything else related to the show. This would’ve been a major factor in Cabela’s allowing us to return next year. And as we learned later, we will be returning to Cabela’s in 2006!