Little Big Show '23

Joel Martin, Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, Wash.
·2 min read

Jun. 15—WILSON CREEK — The little town of Wilson Creek more than doubled in numbers Saturday.

The town, which had a population of 207 at the last census, welcomed more than 300 visitors to its annual Little Big Show, according to organizer Nicholas Odorizzi.

"Good turnout this year," Odorizzi said. "We had, I think, 104 cars. We had more vendors this year, which was great. One of our food vendors sold out. So that was a good problem to have."

Little Big Show is primarily a car show, and vehicles of every size, shape and vintage lined the town's downtown streets. Along with the wheeled attractions there was a quilt show as well as food and music. The Harvest Moon, the town's only restaurant and bar, had only been open on a very limited basis at last year's event but was booming this year, Odorizzi said. The Harvest Moon hosted the Moses Lake band Free Beer Nuts, and the Justice family put on an impromptu bluegrass performance on their porch, Odorizzi said.

The vehicle array was pretty diverse, and Odorizzi said a couple of categories may have to be added for future shows.

"We had a couple from Omak (that) brought a fancy old school bicycle," he said. "So we were thinking about adding that to the classes. There was another couple that brought their vintage RV, so we're thinking about adding that too."

At any car show, every vehicle tells a story. One was the 1962 Volvo owned by Randy Strawn of Waterville. Its last owner, he said, was movie producer Michael Mann, whose credits include, appropriately enough, "Ford v Ferrari." That history caused a minor stir when he went to register the vehicle at the Douglas County Courthouse.

"I know the gal (at the courthouse) because I'm always going through cars, right? And I handed her the title and said, 'Hey, I want to register this Volvo.' She comes out of the smaller office ... She's got the California title in her hand and she says 'Randy, do you know who this car belongs to?' I said 'Yeah, it belonged to Michael Mann.' She said, 'I hope you don't mind, but what I did is I registered this car with Washington state as a historical (vehicle).' So she was able to give me the California title back with his name on it."

"(We got) lots of compliments this year, lots of returned people saying 'Great show. That's why we always come to this show,'" Odorizzi said. "I think (it's) because it's a little more laid back and pretty easy. Like, just come show your car and have some fun."

Joel Martin can be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.