McKee Botanical Garden received more than 3,000 visitors on Valentine’s Day, enjoying a crisp, sunny day outdoors as they mingled among classic collector automobiles and colorful LEGO brick sculptures.
It was McKee’s sixth annual Motor Car Exhibition and, as in the past, it lured numerous people who had never previously been to the famed Vero Beach attraction.
“Although we had a lot of our regular members come in, the majority are non-members,” said Christine Hobart, McKee’s executive director.
Cars in the juried show, which this year was themed “Car Collectors’ Favorites,” spanned more than 100 years. Forty-one cars and nine motorcycles were on display, many restored by the car owners, who had been asked to enter the favorite one in their collection for the show.
The idea for the popular car show arose out of a casual comment by local car collector and board member John Schumann.
“I always liked cars as long as I can remember,” said Schumann. “I was riding through the parking lot with an official from the garden one day and I mentioned that it would be a great spot for a car show. The next thing I knew I was on the committee and then chairman for the last six years.”
Schumann and wife Kathi share their love of cars as a family, and even have their own track on property in west Vero.
“I am looking at racing lines and channels underneath that disturb the air, more on the racing aspect, although I think these cars are as beautiful as artwork,” said Kathi Schumann.
While the children seemed more entranced by the large-scale LEGO brick sculptures, dreaming of what they might build with their own sets, many of the adults were nostalgic about the cars.
“The antique ones really take you back,” said Kathy Desimone. “It’s all about their history and what I was doing when I first saw one of these.”
Dressed in clothing inspired by their gleaming, candy-apple red 1931 Packard convertible, Barry and Linda Paraizo garnered a lot of attention. “When you drive down the street in a Ferrari in Florida it’s just another car, but you drive down the road with one of these and everyone is waving and giving you a thumbs up.”
Every car owner had a story to tell and plenty of willing listeners to hear them.
Daniel Case told one interested group about restoring a Ford Model A, which he discovered had been used for bootlegging in its day. “When I pulled up the original rug there was an old porcelain motor oil sign hiding a slot on the floor so they could drop out the moonshine if the prohibition G-men were chasing them. It also had extra leaf springs to hide the extra weight in the trunk that would have been a dead giveaway.”
Whether the draw was the classic cars or the 27 creative LEGO sculptures, visitors all deemed it a perfect way to celebrate a sunny Valentine’s Day amid the beauty of McKee with the people they loved.
