The fourth annual Fall Fest Car, Truck, and Bike Show and Cruise-In to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will return to Owensboro on Saturday. Hosted by Bluegrass Biker News in conjunction with Kentucky Hawg Mafia, the event will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Applebee’s on South Frederica Street.
In addition to the car show and cruise-in, this year’s event features special guest Lee Vervoort from the critically acclaimed television series The Walking Dead. Vervoort is donating his time and will be on hand to sign pictures from the show.
The event also features a Chinese Raffle where attendees can purchase tickets for $2 — or less if bought in quantity — and drop them in a box near their desired item for a chance to win.
The fundraiser also boasts 31 vendors, Mr. Poppet the balloon clown, a cornhole tournament, and more.
“Bluegrass Biker News is all about paying it forward and helping families and children,” said event coordinator Jimmy Rhodes. “We’ve teamed up with National Ambassadors for St. Jude’s; led by Sue Ellen Henderson, they’ve helped us propel the show to the next level.”
The event spent its first two years at Maloney’s before moving downtown to Bar Louie in 2019. With rising COVID-19-related concerns, the group hosted an abbreviated show in Beaver Dam last year.
Car and bike enthusiasts can appreciate the open show format with no specific classes to enter. With nearly 40 opportunities to win, entries will range from American-made cars and trucks to imports and jeeps to sport and street bikes.
Cars, trucks, and jeeps will be on display in the old Sears parking lot of the Town Square Mall, while motorcycles will be in the Applebee’s parking lot. Rhodes and his crew expect upwards of 300 show entries.
Rhodes’s wife Janie has also played an integral role planning process, along with Barry and Denise Cooper of Kentucky Hawg Mafia. The event relies on roughly 75 volunteers and 15 sponsors.
“Reputation and legitimacy are at the forefront for us. We never walk away with any of the funds raised,” he said. “After the awards, there will be a funding presentation that is open to the public and details how much money we raised.”
For the first time in event history, custom-designed T-shirts are available for $15 and there will be a raffle with a wide array of items.
For more information about the fundraiser — to register or sponsor — visit the event page on Facebook here.
“With St. Jude’s being the child cancer center that it is, and knowing that they operate solely on corporate fundraising and donations, they were the perfect benefactor,” Rhodes said. “Knowing that child with cancer can be treated, and their families housed and never receive a bill; that’s an incredible gift.”
