Fall Fling 2017

By Harry Newman

The Shenandoah Region has been hosting a Fall Foliage event and/or drive for many years. It is a popular event and one that has been well attended in previous years. This year, the Club decided to have a two-day multi-event on October 14 and 15 that included Saturday arrival drives, a Saturday afternoon People’s Choice Concours in the Pavilion in historic downtown Harrisonburg, a Saturday Open House and catered dinner at the MAAP facility, a silent auction, as well a very interesting Sunday drive to the mountains of West Virginia in Brandywine. To see photo galleries from this event, click here and here.

The Saturday driving tours were led by Randy Bell from the eastern side of the Region to Stanardsville. Hank Weil led the Saturday drive from Crozet to Stanardsville, and Jason Wavell assembled these two drives with participants that met in Stanardsville for the drive over the mountains into historic downtown Harrisonburg.

The host for the 2017 Fall Fling was the Madison Automotive Apprentice Program (MAAP), whose Executive Director is Cole Scrogham, the first President of the Shenandoah Region. Cole’s intent was to design an event that was something a little “different.” His desire “was to have an event where you didn’t have to get up at 5 AM to clean your car, and then stand around all day in a grassy field far from civilization, but an event that was informal, relaxed, and most of all FUN!” MAAP provided a list of restaurants, hotels, and things to see in the area.

The event was designed to have a nice relaxed lunch on arrival, so all participants could take their time to enjoy the company of others after the arrival tour, walk and see some unique downtown shops, or even for those so inclined, could wash their cars. The PCA contingent that participated in the arrival drives had a wonderful lunch at the Rocktown Kitchen that was right across the street from the Pavilion.

The plan included moving the Porsches into the Pavilion around 1:30 PM after the Farmers’ market closed. The Concours was a very informal event that lasted about two hours and included some very nice vintage Porsches as well as some newer models. The owners and whoever happened into the Pavilion had fun swapping tales and enjoying the scenery. There was no judging, but there was a contest for the Porsche and/or owner with the “Best Fall Colors” and a People’s Choice Award for the best Porsche at the event.

After the fun at the Pavilion there was time to check into hotels, take a nap, go for a walk, or do some shopping or whatever until the Madison Automotive Apprentices (MAAP) Open House from 5–6 PM. Appetizers and drinks were served at 6 PM and a great meal by James Madison University Catering was at 6:30 PM. During dinner, there was a silent auction going on to support the MAAP non-profit organization. There were some great items for sale and the bidding became intense as the time to bid expired. There was a lot of scrambling and increasing bids for several of the old Porsche manuals, as well as two pair of vintage sunglasses and a Yeti insulated drink cup with a Porsche logo.

The winner of the People’s Choice Award was Carey Lindsey and his beautiful blue Porsche 356 cabriolet. The “Best Fall Colors” Porsche was Jim Forkovitch’s spectacular Sienna Red 930 coupe.

Sunday morning started out on the cool side, but the sky was clear and it was a beautiful morning for the contingent of seven Porsches to drive to Brandywine, West Virginia located in the George Washington National Forest. The drive was extraordinary and there were quite a few very nice switchbacks both up and down the Shenandoah Mountains. It was a memorable drive and all were excited to have made this drive. When we got back to the Pavilion, we chatted about the event, the spectacular Sunday drive and the fun that we had at the 2017 Fall Fling. Some of the folks stayed in the Harrisonburg area for lunch and others started the drive back home. It was a great weekend and the weather was spectacular.