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Rifle Rendezvous Festival car show raises funds for CMC automotive program scholarship

People check out all the cool classics during a car show at a previous Rifle Rendezvous.
File/Post Independent

This year’s showcase of colorful Model Ts, Corvettes, muscle cars and more at the Rifle Rendezvous Festival is gearing up to raise funds for a new scholarship to the automotive program at Colorado Mountain College Rifle.

Rifle Rendezvous Festival board President Annie MacGregor said the effort is in honor of longtime car show host Jesse “Chub” Squires. Squires ran the car show for 15 years before he died April 26, 2022.

“He was just one of those guys that was the school of hardknocks,” she said of Chub. “He didn’t have a formal education, but he was ready to impart his wisdom on mechanics to anyone who would listen.”



MacGregor said the proceeds from the car show will support a $1,000 scholarship to local high school students interested in CMC Rifle’s auto program. There are currently 31 Garfield Re-2 students enrolled in CMC’s auto program, the district confirmed.

The scholarship will be paid out over two semesters. It is befittingly named the “C. Squires Memorial Scholarship,” while the car show itself is now named after Chub.



According to Chub’s obituary, he was an active member at the Rifle Elks Lodge, a Vietnam veteran and will be greatly missed by all who loved him. It also states that Chub was a heavy equipment operator for many years, and that he enjoyed fishing, camping, horseback riding, and “anything with wheels and a motor.”

The C. Squires Memorial Car Show slated for 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday at the Garfield County Fairgrounds & Events Center, 1001 Railroad Avenue. It features a diverse collection of pristine vehicles. Local collectors, and some from as far away as Craig and Grand Junction, come to park their vehicles just beyond the entrance, where sunshine glints from their candy paint jobs and marveling visitors are also treated to live music.

Chub had run the Rendezvous car show since its beginning, MacGregor said.

“We kind of had some big shoes to fill when he couldn’t handle the car show anymore,” she said of Chub.

Saturday’s car show is set to feature up to 50 vehicles. Styles and classes include classic, rat and street rods, truck, motorcycle and custom. Whiskey Stomp, a Western Colorado jam band based in Glenwood Springs, performs all day.

This year’s highlights

Rifle Rendezvous, now in its 26th year, has a long-standing tradition in Rifle. Every May the city bustles with visitors coming to the fairgrounds to ride carnival rides, watch rodeo and, of course, eye some of the nicest cars on the Western Slope. 

Last year’s festivities garnered more than 9,000 visitors and more than 4,000 carnival tickets sold alone.

In addition to beautiful cars, this year’s festivities are a must see. Friday kicks off with carnival rides at 4 p.m. but what the festival board is really excited about is the No Limits Bulls & Ranch Broncs rodeo, MacGregor said. With gates opening at 6 p.m. Friday, the new Rendezvous event features talent from the Working Ranch Cowboys Association of Amarillo, Texas. Tickets are available at http://www.970Tix.com.

Saturday then rolls around with two additional new features: a local barbeque contest and a mud bog.

Between 1-4 p.m., the city’s Greater Rifle Improvement Team hosts a backyard BBQ. Meanwhile, the mud bog features off-road vehicles completing a mud course. Classes include stock, modified, all-terrain vehicles, side-by-sides and utility terrain vehicles. Mud flies at 6 p.m.

Proceeds from this event support the local Northwestern High School Rodeo Club.

To register, call 970-379-2650.

“It’s not quite like a demolition derby,” MacGregor said of the mud bog. “It’s more about getting through the muck instead of beating everyone up.”

RIFLE RENDEZVOUS SCHEDULE

 

Thursday

5 p.m. — Carnival opens

Friday

4 p.m. — Carnival rides begin

5 p.m. — 4-H Shamrock Shindig

7 p.m. — No Limits Bulls & Ranch Broncs

Saturday

All day — Indoor stage events: This includes food and craft vendors from 8 a.m.-11 p.m.; Full Throttle Dance Company performance from 10-11 a.m.; cutest cowboy and cowgirl contest from 11 a.m.-noon; ArtillumA Dance performance 2-3 p.m.

9 a.m.-3 p.m.: —C. Squires Memorial Car Show

11 a.m. — Cornhole tournament

11 a.m.-3 p.m. — Young Guns Youth Rodeo

1-4 p.m. — BBQ contest

6 p.m. — Mud Bog; followed by a live concert featuring Justin Todd Herod

Sunday

Starting at 10 a.m. — Flat Tops Church Service; Draft Horse Play Day

1 p.m. — Flat Tops Gymkhana

Post Independent western Garfield County reporter and assistant editor Ray K. Erku can be reached at 612-423-5273 or rerku@postindependent.com


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