Chrome, crowd come to square

Chrome Fest draws

car aficionados, families

Gleaming vehicles and rock-n-roll greeted visitors to the Pilot Point Square on Saturday.

The vehicles ranged from an 1887 Serpollet to 2020 models with the dealer tags still in place they were so new.

“We make such a big deal about the COVID, which we should, but we say nothing about the suicides, we say nothing about people who are freaking out, lost their jobs, without hope,” said Dwayne Edwards, Chrome Fest organizer and Grace Point Nazarene Church pastor. “This brings hope.”

Edwards is friends with Mike Castiglione, who designed the

2006 Dodge Challenger, and Castiglione made the trek out from California to show his designs and talk with the crowd.

“Pastor Dwayne invited me out to get a chance to see and hang out with like-minded people, people that are really into cars, and the opportunity to go to church with him tomorrow ... is going to be fun,” he said.

The event drew car lovers and owners from throughout the North Texas area.

Darren Heavner, who lives near Fort Worth, brought his 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle that he’s poured hours into to Chrome Fest and parked it on the side that touches Washington Street.

“It looks like a great turnout,” Heavner said, adding that he and his friends stopped for breakfast after they got into town.

His buddy, Mark Lowe, had his sunshine yellow 1938 Dodge Brothers truck nearby.

“It drives like a 2020 now,” he said because of the work he’s put into his car.

He added that he’s been “building cars for 50 years.”

Lowe, who coordinated with his vehicle, said he changed the color of the previously red truck to match a cup his granddaughter brought to his house.

Little personal touches like that were visible throughout the Square.

Gollum from “The Lord of the Rings” made an appearance, mask and all, in the back of one of the cars on display. A figurine of Kylo Ren was posed so he was polishing the side of another.

For some of the owners, showing their vehicles was a chance to share part of their family’s history, like Duane Dirram, who inherited his ’55 Studebaker from his uncle.

“When he got it done in ’93, they drove from south of Chicago to North Carolina to Texas to Colorado to everywhere,” he said. “It’s fun to drive. That’s for sure.”

There were 87 official sign-ups for the car show, Edwards said, with a few added as the show progressed.

The Pilot Point police and fire departments also went head-to-head in a tug-of-war competition, with the police winning 2-0, followed immediately by the fire department staff demonstrating a car extraction using a badly damaged Ford Ranger.

Next week, Dwayne Edwards plans to present the police department and fire department with $1,000 each at the City Council meeting on Monday.