Thank you for making this year a special one. Our WJBJ family has had many opportunities to support car shows and cruise-ins and meet so many special people thanks to you.
There were also changes in some cruise-ins, some bringing positive change and others caused pause to rethink and rework their plans. We have great memories and have great friends in Downtown Davenport and Deland and hope for good things in the future for their events.
Old Town is another place of change, and you can see it. Rides are now gone, the streets are cleaner, restrooms on two blocks have been completely remodeled (with the other two on the calendar) and a few new stores have opened. The owner of Old Town has a heart for the way Old Town used to be, in the beginning, as many cruisers do. He is working hard to bring things back to those days, while updating where needed and adding to the Old Town experience in the future. No doubt, there is a lot of work to do, but they now have a vision in place now and the backing to make it happen.
We said goodbye to some cruisers who were special to our cruiser community this year as well. Although there were others, Betty Kell of Lakeland was one of those special people. She and her husband were instrumental to the founding of WJBJ. And the circle of friends around her at cruise-ins and car shows were always helping us tear 50/50 tickets and get things down. We now have to take a step forward, keeping memories close of the precious time we had with her (and her late husband Darryl) in our lives and continue to support the cruisers and cruising events we are privileged to be a part.
This year we have an opportunity to once again support an event that has been going on for 44 years! And they need your support as they hold their reunion event this year and invite everyone back for a special event that celebrates their beginnings as possibly the first official car club in Central Florida (and maybe all of Florida)! We would love to have you there to show your appreciation for the start they gave to classic cars and cruising. The flyer is now out and being distributed for this year's Easter Rod Run. They support an amazing organization; the Russell Home for A-typical children and throw an event that is very family friendly and fun. Let's all come back this year to the 44th Annual Easter Run Reunion.
As we move into 2015, we want to again say a special thank you to Sam, for being a part of the family and helping us support even more events. We are blessed to have such a special person in our WJBJ family.
We also thank the businesses, towns and cities who invite us to be a part of their events. During a given month, we proudly support Downtown Winter Haven, Uncle Kenny's Barbecue at the the World-Famous Citrus Tower in Clermont, Downtown Winter Garden, Downtown Lake Wales and Downtown Eustis. We also have the opportunity to support Gator Harley Davidson and Old Town in Kissimmee as cruisers back in the early 90s, moving on to work on the cruise staff and now the announcers for the Friday Nite All-American Cruise and the World-Famous Saturday Nite Cruise celebrating 25 years of cruising this year.
Thank you to each of you, for hiring us, supporting us and cruising with us. You are the ones who make cruise-ins happen. You bring success to cruise-ins and car shows by making your choices of where to go next.
Continuing down the Happy Trails,
Butch and Jen
