The 116th Annual Old Soldiers Reunion Parade is scheduled for Thursday August 18th and you and your MINI are invited to participate! This event is an institution in Catawba County and kicks off 2 weeks of events, shows and celebrations in the Hickory area. Originally started to honor Civil War veterans in 1890, the parade now honors vets from all conflicts since that time.

The Hickory Area Chapter of M2C2 will be participating in the parade this year and we have been given slots for 5 cars. We currently have 2 (possibly 3) slots available to other club members who might want to participate. This will be a lot of fun and a chance to show off your MINI to a large number of people. The parade starts at 5 in downtown Newton but participants have to start getting in line at 3. So I realize the time might be an issue for a number of people.

If you want to join in the fun, let me know. If you want any more information, PM me. I hope a few of you will take advantage of the unique opportunity to participate in this event. We've participated in a lot of events since I joined the club but I don't think we've ever done a parade before. This will be a first and I'd like to "show off" as many cars as we can. If I hear from more than 2 or 3 folks, I will start a waiting list in case there are any "dropouts".

Eric

 

Sounds like a fun deal Eric. Sadly, as you mentioned, timing is a factor for me and will prevent me from attending this. I hope others closer to your area will chose to participate, though. Thanks for organizing this!

 

Sounds like fun.. Unfortunately, work intervenes again!

 

Since this event is coming up this next week, I'm bumping it up in case someone might have missed it. We still have up to 2 slots left.

 

Bump!!:smile:

 

Just wanted to let everyone know that the Parade went great. We had a blast. There was a lot of enthusiasm and interest in the cars by the people along the parade route. People would point and say "oh look at the MINIs" and wave and kids just love the car. It's amazing how MINIs generate smiles in folks wherever we go. I think it was good PR for the Club also. I hope we can make this an annual event and get more cars involved next year!

Eric