The Gladfest Car Show has nothing to do with Gladfest anymore, but it's still a great event

For years, the Gladfest Car Show was one of the crown jewels of the Northland.  But they eventually outgrew their location, and last year the event dropped from the schedule.  Don’t get too upset though, because it was back again this year and better than ever.  They moved it to the Antioch Worship Center, and despite the name, it is on a different weekend than Gladfest now.  If you were there, you know that moderate temperatures, copious sunshine, and plenty of space made for a top-notch event in Happy Rock.

Beautiful day, beautiful cars at the 2011 Gladfest Car Show

“Wow. I didn’t realize this show was this big.”

That’s usually the reaction of first-time visitors to the annual Gladfest Car Show, which is held during Gladstone, Missouri’s big Gladfest celebration each fall. The multi-day event features a parade, a carnival, musicians, vendors, and more, so it’s easy to see how a car show could get lost in the shuffle.

GladFest car show brought lots of happy car lovers to Happy Rock

When church lets out at 11:00 on Sunday, look out, because the Hovers are on the loose!

Today it was straight to GladFest Days in Gladstone, Mo. Craft booths for mom, carnival rides for son, and oh yeah, a big car show for dad. And we smoked through all this in enough time to go see the Challenger steam locomotive on temporary display at Union Station with my wife's dad, a retired Union Pacific man and overall train nut.

It's hard to forget the GladFest car show. A big part of that is because organizers handed out a glossy, bi-fold, color entry blank at nearly every other car show I went to this summer. I keep all those kind of flyers to use in the "Upcoming Events" features, and my folder is cram-packed with GladFest information.