COMING THIS SUNDAY!!!

Okay, so maybe I'm a little off-center in the brain, but The Geneva Concours has always reminded me of the famous "pointillist" painting above by Georges Seurat. Even though there's no cars or motorbikes in "A Sunday Afternoon on Le Grande Jatte" (which most usually hangs in Chicago's exceptional Art Institute, by the way) on account of they didn't quite exist yet. But the ambience and vibe are, well, similar.

The Geneva Concours represents the very best of what a lovely and serene Sunday motor show should be. First off, the town itself is warm, welcoming, pleasant and delightful, with real trees and grass lawns and neat old midwestern house & Main Street architecture and a river running through it and all sorts of only moderately overpriced/not overly touristy shops and galleries and eateries (and ice cream parlors and non-nationally-branded coffee shops, etc.) and the local populace is behind the event 100% and rolls out the welcome mat every blessed year.

They'll be shutting down about 10 square blocks again this coming Sunday, August 27 (and that's Geneva, ILLINOIS, not Lake Geneva, WI, folks!) where owners/collectors will be displaying all sorts of old-timer antique, brass-era cars and grande classics like Duesenbergs and Packards and Auburns and Rolls Royces from back when Hollywood spun celluloid dreams out of romance, angst and imagination and the groundling peasants were only too happy to polish hubcaps and radiator mascots for the rich and famous. Although they much preferred the famous to the rich, who were notorious skinflint tippers (that's how they got to be rich in the first place) while Hollywood stars and starlets would happily burn through whatever resources their ridiculous salaries provided until all of the fuel was exhausted and their personal skyrockets went dark and fluttered silently out of the skies...

But I digress. 'Cause we've got American cars from the 40's, 50's and 60's ("Jeez, my uncle Nathan had one like that!"), sports cars of every sort from the patrician royalty to the peon proletariat, some hot rods and customs, musclecars of course, some of the new stuff with amazing performance envelopes nobody's got anyplace to use anymore save humbling, tire- and brake pad-destroying track days, and a multitude of motorcycles, motorbikes and scooters from across the decades. And it's all laid out there like a grand buffet (on Le Grande Jatte, if you will) and you can wander as you like, munch on a homemade muffin, drink a latte or a wee glass of wine, listen to the birds and the car- and bike- owners chirping (trust me...they'd LOVE to tell you about their 1953 Whatsis Excellence Express) and you can do the whole show in a couple of hours. Or hang around for the award ceremony. Up to you.

And did I mention it's FREE TO THE PUBLIC (that's YOU!). So it's quite a deal besides being quite a wonderful event. Show is scheduled to run from 10am-3pm followed by the awards, and Carol and I will be set up once again with the fine and kindly folks from the Chicago Region SCCA and their wonderful cars. Look for us on Campbell Street between 2nd and 3rd, where we'll have our habitual book-hawking stall along with associated merch, prints, etc. Do drop by! For more detailed info, click on the box below. See you there!