12th ANNUAL METUCHEN RESCUE SQUAD BENEFIT CAR-TRUCK-MOTORCYCLE SHOW
Metuchen, NJSunday, August 15, 2021
In our case, the 2nd time was the charm, and the Metuchen Rescue Squad Benefit Car-Truck-Motorcycle Show was greeted by clear skies, and at least for August in New Jersey, tolerable temperature and humidity levels. Our venue for our 12th annual Show, was not what had become our usual one at the Metuchen High School.
The new venue was the Halsey Street Parking Lot, which is off Main St and Amboy Ave, and by Post 65 of the American Legion, on Calvin Place, which fronts the Parking Lot. Given the location of this year’s Show, we asked Mike Inhat of Post 65 if the Legion would provide food services to our Show Participants, he agreed, and Post 65 also allowed the Show participants access to their Restroom facilities. For those that wanted a cold Beer, that was available inside the Legion Hall, and the food offerings included Hamburgers, Hotdogs, French Fries, and condiments, all at reasonable prices, cooked fresh by the Legion Hall’s Members.
A BIG thank to Mike, and his fellow Post 65 Members, for slaving over a hot Grill all day, directing Show participants to the Restrooms, and guiding those wanted a cold Beer, to the Legion’s Bar Room. There were a number of Vendors at this year’s Show, and in no particular order, they were. Topping The Web (Rich Topping), Dirty Rat Apparel (Mike Misko), Diecast Jimmy (Jimmy Fitz), who donated a diecast car model as a gift to our Fire Dept representative, other vendors included Mean Jean Pinstripping, and Capt G’s Sweet Tooth (Raja Godhwani).
Music and announcements were provided by our tried and true DJ for many years, Tracy Tanner. An addition to our Show for 2021, was featuring members from all our “First Responders” we depend on to keep us safe and come to our aid in times of need. The “First Responders” represented at our Show included Trooper Jamison of the New Jersey State Police, Octavio Tapia from the Metuchen Police Dept, and a host of our other local Officers who stopped by and visited during our Show, Brian Floeck represented our local volunteer Fire Dept, and our local volunteer EMS, for whom this Show is held each year, sent Peter Faircloth (Squad Capt), and a group of volunteers to represent our local EMS. All our “First Responders” had vehicles on display for our Show participants, and spectators to view, and fielded questions from our participants and spectators on what they do, and our crowd responded positively to each representative.
We hope to continue this new tradition at future Shows. Bob Matland of Kicks Are For Kids stopped by to pick the vehicle awarded the Trophy sponsored by the non-profit youth organization he oversees, Linda Koskoski represented our Mayor, Jonathon Busch, picking the vehicle awarded the Mayor’s Choice Trophy, and proxies represented our other Sponsors, all of whom you can read about in the PDF copy of our Show Ad Booklet we’ll be posting to the Show Website.
We thank each, and every one of our Sponsors who helped make our Show possible, and encourage all who can, to patronize these generous local businesses. My Son Martin, his girlfriend Erica Lapinski, Aaron Blessing, Jeremy Ringler, Chris Lasko, Jordan Goldenberg, Mike Difabio, and Brian Floeck.
We also honored the memory of our family friend, tremendous help both pre-Show, and on the day of our Show for many years, Ed Van Eckert, who passed unexpectedly in March of 2021. AJ OF Pearl Street Automotive brought a car owned by Ed, and we had a photo collage placed on Ed’s car, showing Ed at a number of Shows he’d helped out over the years. We had hoped to have Maria Portales at our event, ed’s Wife, but unfortunately she wasn’t feeling well, and couldn’t be with us.
THANK YOU to EVERYONE who came out, showed their vehicles at our Show, and helped us, help our local ALL volunteer EMS Squad