The Iola Old Car Show has been an annual event for 45 years, and is without a doubt the largest car show in Wisconsin. The grounds stretch as far as the eye can see across what is normally a vast empty space in a tiny Central Wisconsin town. It showcases all types of classic cars in all types of conditions, vendors, food, and a gigantic swap meet. You can’t see the whole thing in one day. Small country roads that rarely see a car are suddenly packed with travelers the second weekend of every July.
We’ve tried to do a few events in our home state of Wisconsin, but we tend to get a lot of confusion over our products here. Specifically, some people will confuse the difference between high-end art books (which we make) and hardcore pornography (which we do not make). Previous events in Wisconsin have resulted in more than a few scowls and husbands’ shielded eyes. But when our friend Ginny Rosewater was asked to organize the first ever pinup contest at the Iola Old Car Show, we naturally wanted to help as much as we could. Also, with the release of our car book “Vroom!” by Shannon Brooke this year, an established car show like Iola was a great place to get our product into our local market. Working Class Publishing officially sponsored some prizes, the contestant Green Room, and provided general support for the event as needed. We had a booth near the contest stage where we were selling books and trying to promote the pinup/ kustom kulture scene.
Miss Iola Pinup Contest Final Stage
It’s safe to say the reaction we received at our booth was “mixed.” We had a number of people stop by and remark that our books are “tasteful” and “well-done.” We also had a man suggest that we cover up the models in our banners because he was having “inappropriate thoughts” and a woman who shouted at us that our business should be called “Sluts-R-Us.” So take from those encounters what you will.
Kelly at the WCP booth
On the bright side, we met a lot of nice people (except for the crazy shouting lady) and got to be involved in the first ever Pinup Contest at a long running car show. Ginny and her pinup group “The Midwest Rockabeauties” did a fantastic job organizing the event. There were 25 contestants, most of whom had never been part of a pinup event before. A panel of judges (including our own Kelly Ballard) scored the contestants over 3 rounds on style, personality, and answers to questions. The Iola Car Show organizers provided a space for hair/makeup and green room – a luxury not common at a lot of these types of contests.
Judges: Kelly Ballard, Honey B. Have, Dot Holliday and Midwest Rockabeauties: Meghan Hradisky, Ginny Rosewater, and Sweet Karoline (One of These Things is Not Like The Others)
Running the booth wasn’t without some excitement. Near the end of the day on Friday, we noticed a lot of the cars leaving early. One of the dragster guys came over and told us about an oncoming storm, pointing at some dark clouds far off on the horizon. “No, we’ll be fine,” I said with great confidence. Surely, the little drizzle of a storm would miss us completely.
I was wrong.
By the time the thunder started shaking our books off the rack, we had just enough time to pack up the valuables before a torrential onslaught of rain and hail started. The wind was so severe that we had to stand in a river of freezing water to keep our booth from taking off like a kite.
The winner of the Pinup Contest was Patty Pierogi, a super fun lady from Milwaukee with a giant personality. The first prize (in addition to a gift bag containing awesome prizes) was a shoot with the legendary Shannon Brooke.
Even though our reaction this year was mixed, overall it was a good start to promoting the scene here in the Midwest. We will definitely do it again next year, and are already planning new ways to interact with people at the show.