Push Rods car club hosts car show at Elks Lodge

By Dakota Antelman, Managing Editor

HUDSON – Well over a hundred hot rods rumbled onto the field at the Hudson-Concord Elks Pavillion on Aug. 21 for a car show by the Push Rods Car Club. 

This was the second Push Rods show at the Elks Lodge after an initial event in 2019. A relatively new tradition, the event showcased vehicles steeped in history at a venue that had organizers voicing their gratitude.

“This has always been a great place to have a car show,” club president Wayne Shieling said. 

Push Rods has existed since 1957. To this day, it retains at least two of its original members. 

Push Rods was founded in Waltham, but it now draws much of its membership from Hudson and Marlborough. As such, Shieling said events like the Aug. 21 car show represent a chance to celebrate and highlight members’ hot rods close to home.

“We wanted to bring it back to Hudson because this has been such a good place,” Shieling said.
That 2019 event brought 325 cars to the Elks Lodge. This year, the turnout was slightly smaller, though it still spilled more than 120 vehicles across the open field in front of the Elks Pavilion. 

“I think [the smaller turnout] was because of the COVID times and the impending weather,” Shieling said as the event wound down. “But it was still a success.”

The event did go forward just before the first clouds from Hurricane Henri rolled over the region. 

Warm air and heavy humidity made for muggy weather around midday as most of the car show’s attendees piled back into their vehicles to head home. 

Organizers, however, remained grateful. 

“Typically, when you go to car shows, they don’t have these big pavilions and stuff like that,” Shieling said. “A lot of them don’t have bar service.”

“Coming over the bridge and [seeing] this whole thing is what makes it,” he said, referencing the entrance to the Elks field and the field itself. “It’s a very unique place to have a car show.”

 

 

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