CRESTVIEW — Downtown Crestview was the place to ogle artistic eye candy of many genres May 15 when the Main Street Crestview Association’s art show met the Spanish Trail Cruiser Club’s rescheduled car show.
“My husband’s off looking at the cars while we’re checking out the homemade jewelry,” resident Betty Linden said as she and her daughter, Eva, admired the handicrafts lining Courthouse Terrace before rejoining her husband, Tom.
“He wanted to go off and see the Mustangs,” Betty explained.
With the big band music of Hashtag Swing keeping toes tapping, a beautiful day unfolded warm and sunny, drawing crowds downtown by the several hundreds.
Towering above it all was the Crestview Fire Department’s new ladder truck, its extendable ladder soaring 107 feet into the sky over the intersection of Main Street and Beech Avenue. Attendees got to learn about firefighting equipment, and kids got their pictures taken sitting in the cab.
Spanish Trail Cruisers Club President John Colby said it was one of the club’s best car shows to date, both in terms of visitors as well as exhibitors. Almost 200 cars entered the show, while more than 50 artists exhibited at the Crestview Art Show, organizers said.
Crestview Mayor JB Whitten and his wife, Anne, strolled the art show exhibits, then checked under the hoods of the car show vehicles. Later he awarded the Mayor’s Trophy for his selection as the best of show.
“It was a ’55 Chevrolet Bel Air,” he said, noting his decision came only after much deliberation. “It’s gorgeous inside and out! It was hard to choose just one when there were so many other beautifully restored cars to consider.”
The art show was a program of the Mayor’s Cultural Series, and after its success last weekend, Whitten said it will likely become an annual event.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Artistry takes over Main Street