The Blacktop Cruisers Car Club had its first meeting in January of 1998 with 26 members in attendance.  Founding member Sid DeVries and his wife began discussions of a club after participating in the Red Hot Car Shows and the Round Barn Cruise-In car shows in Rochester for several years.  A number of guidelines were set forth at that first meeting:

 

We have always included all models of cars and trucks in the membership of the club. We have never wanted to limit membership by having an exclusive membership. We have had people who did not have a car to show belong to the club because of their interest in this hobby.

 

 At the April, 1998 meeting, we voted and called the club, Blacktop Cruisers. This name was suggested by Rod Howell. Kathie Adams drew the Logo.By May, 1998, we had 33 paid family memberships.

 

Our first outing as a club was to travel to the Lakeview Diner in Warsaw for a Cruise-In on May 15, 1998. Through the years, we have taken several road trips. Auburn-Cord-Dusenberg Museums; A chartered Bus trip to the Gilmore Museum in Michigan; The Corvette Museum in Fort Wayne; A Sunday Cruise to Roscoe’s Restaurant and Door Prairie Museum; The Studebaker Museum; A Farm and Car Museum in New Haven; and a Cruise to Somerset, KY for a weekend.We also toured several factories: Dean Foods, Camcar Textron, and Logansport Municipal Utilities. We have had a high membership of 65 families.

 

In 2004, the club took over doing the Round Barn Festival Cruise-In from the Chamber of Commerce and in 2008, the club took over the Red Hot Car Show, which we organize each year in conjunction with the Chili Cookoff..

 

Over the years, we have lost a number of our founding members, whom we have remembered  with Memorial Awards at the Car Shows. The Blacktop Cruisers continue to meet on the 4th Wednesday of the month. In the winter months, we have been meeting at Jarrety’s Place in Rochester.