“I’ve owned a lot of Pontiacs, but never a GTO,” said New Hope resident Kevin Braddock as he leaned on the side of his 1967 GTO. “As soon as I saw this one, I knew I had to have it.”
Braddock was out at Lake Lowndes Saturday as part of a Friends of Lake Lowndes fundraiser that included a car show and about 70 vendors.
“I’ve owned this car for about a year, and I’ve redone the inside and the paint job,” Braddock said. “It’s a project I’ve wanted to do for a long time. The GTO is my favorite car.”
Although a rainy morning had kept people away from the event, by about 9 a.m. the clouds were starting to part and more gearheads were showing up.
“We like to do things to support the community,” said New Hope resident Blake Moore. Moore, along with his wife Shanen and their daughter, Raylee, were hanging out alongside “Stephanie,” a 1984 Chevy C-10 pickup.
Moore said he had spent the last nine months or so working on the truck. Saturday was his first time out at Lake Lowndes, but he said he had shown off the truck at Caledonia Days earlier this year.
Car owners paid an entry fee of $20 to attend, said Southern Cruisers member Carl Ulmer, and qualified for a drawing for a $50 door prize later in the day.
“Last year we had 43 cars show up and we raised about $1,000 for the park,” said Friends of Lake Lowndes Secretary Pam Eaves. “But turnout depends on the weather, and we’re hoping people come out today.”
“A lot of people don’t even realize that it’s here,” Ulmer said. “I was telling someone we were out here, and they told me they had lived here 20 years and didn’t know where it was. We hope we can help raise awareness of the park and get more people out here.”
Saturday’s car show was a companion to Lakeside Treasures, also going on at the same time. Both were put on by Friends of Lake Lowndes as fundraisers to help give the facility a little TLC.
Friends of Lake Lowndes was formed about a year and a half ago, said President Rhonda Richardson, and has been having events ranging from the car show and Lakeside Treasures to live music.
“The money we raise goes back into the park,” she said. “We do repairs, upgrades and clean up out here. The park is already beautiful, and we want to make it better.”
So far Friends of Lake Lowndes has helped touch up the small amphitheater out at the park, and is working to spruce up the park’s campsites and trails, among other things.
“We’re putting in picnic tables, replacing grills, just doing what we can to update the campsites,” she said. “People used to use the lake a lot years ago, and it’s just kind of died out.”
Richardson said the event was growing.
“Last year we had about 60 vendors, this year it’s over 70,” she said. “We had about 600 people come out last year, and we’re hoping to see more than that this year.”
For more information, visit the Friends of Lake Lowndes page on Facebook.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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