‘It tripped me out ...’ Graffiti Festival parade still wows spectators and participants
The American Graffiti Festival car parade is nearly a quarter-century old, and celebrates a pastime that in Modesto dates back to the mid-1940s. And still the destination event draws — and impresses — new attendees.
Stan Williams is originally from Huntsville, Alabama, but is in town working remotely and visiting his girlfriend. A lover of classic cars, he knew he couldn’t miss Friday’s 23rd annual parade.
“I’ve been in Modesto a few times, but this is my first American Graffiti,” Williams said. “I saw some cars a couple of days ago, and then I found out that a few days later this was happening.”
“Some” cars grew to many hundreds of cars by Friday’s parade and Saturday and Sunday’s American Graffiti Festival and Car Show on the Modesto Junior College West Campus.
The total number of cars allowed in the parade was raised from 800 in 2021 to 1,000, but that wasn’t enough as spots in the parade were filled by June 4, according to the festival website.
Between 1,300 and 1,400 vintage cars — a new record — were expected to be at the three-day event that kicked off with the cruise parade through downtown and along McHenry Avenue on Friday night.
“It’s been a blessing to come back,” said Brent Burnside, event chairman for the Kiwanis Club of North Modesto. “We were allowed to get 1,000 cars for the cruise this year … it got everybody excited to be ready for this year and we’re back full force this year. It’s just a great time to come back out and just have the simple things of life and enjoy ... reminiscing about the good old days.”
The event gave spectators a peek into Modesto’s history and a chance to gawk at some spectacular vehicles.
While he is a fan of all classic cars, Williams was keeping an eye out for one in particular.
“I hope I see some Corvettes, I’m partial to the old Corvettes,” he said. “I had a 1959 Corvette — silver with a black interior — for 26 years. I had to sell it because I started a business.”
He also had a 1968 Ford Shelby Mustang for a few years before he turned 20.
The event brought a new experience for other first-year attendees and drivers.
Joe Kirk came from the Fresno area to drive his 1930 Ford Model A through downtown. The car enthusiast has vintage supermodified race cars from the 1960s and has raced in Stockton, Merced and other Central Valley cities.
“We go to the big Rockabilly deals in Vegas and stuff and it’s the biggest one in the world and it’s about half this size,” Kirk said. “It tripped me out how many cars are here.”
He’s no stranger to Modesto. When he was younger, Kirk drove up to the original cruises.
“I had some friends that lived in Los Banos, and so every once in a while, we’d go down, pick ’em up and come down and cruise this area … and be home at about 2 in the morning,” he said. “I always wanted to come do this event but just never did.
“It’s one thing to go to a car show, but it’s another thing to be able to participate in it and see all this stuff.”
Wes and Barbara Page are all about tradition and they’ve been to all 23 parades. They were supposed to have company this year — their grandchildren — but they didn’t want to bring them out in the heat. The grandkids went to the ocean instead.
“They went to Monterey, we still came down here.” Barbara Page said.
Wes Page is a big fan of George Lucas and classic cars. He doesn’t own a classic car — he drives a Prius these days — but reminisces about the Faros, the popular car club from when he was a student at Downey High.
“If I had (a classic car), I would definitely want to join the Faros because when I was in high school here, that was the car club to be in,” he said. “It was made famous in ‘American Graffiti’ but that would be a prestigious thing.”
This story was originally published June 11, 2022 at 10:35 AM.
