American Patriot Fest + 360 Carshow 2018

360 Carshows always knows how to put an event together! Jesse Coronado is the man behind the madness most the time because he collaborates with multiple organizations throughout the year with the ambition of giving back to the community. This time he invited Las Vegas Car Meets out to the combined American Patriot Festival, Burger Festival and 360 Carshow. A massive event with the purpose of benefiting charities to honor past and present men and women for their service to our country. Before the weekend attraction we had kicked off on Wednesday with an escort of the Traveling Veterans Memorial Wall to the park, check that article out here. Come show time Saturday morning we were all prepped and staged for the day ahead. There were plenty of food vendors, lots of live music, dance groups, and car clubs out for a full car show lining the permitter of the Craig Ranch Park. There’s was a bit of everything to check out with no shortage of things to do. You could grab yourself a burger and beer, walk down the isles upon isles of cars, visit the momentous Memorial Wall and then if you needed a break you could take your second helping of food with drink and watch the performances on stage. The event was free to the public and drew a huge crowd consisting of service members, their families and all those their to show support and appreciation for them. The park was packed as you can see below. From our booth we watched some great choreographed groups take stage with a combination of young and older dancers energizing their spectators. In a friendly eat off against the car clubs I jumped on stage with Jesse to narrate and judge. Truthfully I got a bit noxious watching them down a burger, two sliders and a beer. The crowd gave off high energy as they cheered on their team to finish first in intense competition. A change of pace where most the day clubs all huddle under their canopies to stay out of the sun and out of the wind. Everyone’s poor efforts to maintain their vehicles meticulously for judging were in vain because that wind was unforgiving and left no car untouched from dust. But thankfully the judges were fair in giving everyone a pass based on the situation. The anticipation mounted as they made their rounds and came down to the last few cars. But while they tallied up a seemingly endless pile of papers another highlight of the day was the the amazing motorcycle that we had first saw at Henderson Harley Davidson on Wednesday. This unique one of a kind build was donated by Steve Darnell from Welder Up and Discovery Channel’s Vegas Rat Rods show. They customized this handsome and rugged 1943 Harley Davidson to great lengths. They’ll be collecting raffles up until the draw on September 20th, details here if you’d like to get in on it still. All the money collected will be donated to various charities to benefit service members and their families. A great opportunity to help out a little and a chance to win an incredible one of a kind machine completely decorated appropriately for the theme of which is represents. The largest gathering of the day may have been when everyone rushed to the stage awaiting the winners to be announced. There were plenty of categories all with 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners giving so many an opportunity to taste the winners circle. I myself only took home third in JDM other but let me tell you it’s just as good of a feeling to be recognized for you efforts. After the official categories were called they introduced an innovate idea to include a set of peer awards giving by each club to the member of another. A great gesture to show your appreciation towards the build of someone not in your team but of your community. After a long and dusty day the event concluded with good spirits among the public for having shared a day together in honor of those who have sacrificed for so many of us to be able to have these days. A huge thank you to all of them, the sponsors and to the people responsible for organizing incredible events like this for us participate in. Until next year!