What’s New? The Prez Sez…
2023 Is Closing
No, there are not any accidents to report, and Willmar Car Club is alive and active. What did happen are a number of club gatherings in 2023. Again, as in past years, every month offered something for us. Begin-ning in January with the annual meal/ meeting at the Kandiyohi County Historical Society Building with offic-ers remaining the same as 2022. Mike Hartman was installed on the Board of Directors. He took the place of outgoing Daryle Haugen.
We did happen to vote on a meal change for January 2024. Mark your calendar and be sure to send in your reservations for Saturday, January 13. McKale’s Catering will be providing a buffet dinner of chicken and ribs, along with potatoes, vegetables, and salad. The cost is only $10.00 per person with the club paying the balance, tax, and gratuities. This ends up being about a half price meal. Good deserts will be potluck by mem-bers. We are doing a mid-day gathering, arrive about noon to 12;15 pm, serving at 12;30, so no after dark driv-ing in January.
Our winter 2024 Car Buff’s Breakfasts for February, March, And April will continue to be at McMil-lian’s Restaurant, just as in 2023. This is the most logical place when weather can be questionable.
The 2023 June Father’s Day visits had just a bit of rain, but we still received appreciation from the three Care Facilities we stopped at. A number of area shows and cruise nights were represented by members and their cars throughout the summer.
September was a good car month with the Bethesda Northpoint visit near New London. The time al-so included a cruise and ending with a great meal at Dick and Carol Johnsons on Lake Koronis. A good Root Beer and Rides Cruise Night was also part of our September activities.
Opportunities to get your out continued in October with a memorable visit to the Wally Kill Collec-tion near Morris on the 3rd, followed with the Paynesville Car Buff’s Breakfast and fall leaf tour.
Another 2023 happening was a trial run of moving our monthly meeting from the third Friday to the third Thursday and incorporating an evening meal by meeting at Pizza Ranch or Jake’s Pizza. This change in-creased attendance and some additional meeting thoughts have been brought up to consider. We will review this at our January meeting.
Coming up for December 9th is our holiday gathering, start-ing with Toys for Tots shopping, 2:00 pm at Walmart. Meet inside by the Grocery Entrance. We have the Kandiyohi County Historical Soci-ety Building reserved for a bit later in the day. The potluck meal will be at 5:00 pm and the December meeting will follow.
Thanks to all who made 2023 a great year for Willmar Car Club.
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!
~ Bob
See all issues of our monthly newsletter, “The Polishing Rag”, here.