Dixie Car Club

Benton, Arkansas car club

August 2024 – Newsletter

Summer is coming to an end! Dixie Car Club members, can you believe how fast Summer flew by? As summer ends and kids go back to school, that only means 1 thing. It’s almost time for our annual car show. Our club has grown so fast over the past year. So, we welcome all of our new members and can’t wait to see what the rest of this year brings!
August Monthly Meeting Minutes
The Dixie Car Club met on Thursday, July 1, 2024 at Wood Fire Grill in Benton, AR. There were 52 members present. Members were greeted with decorations and cake for all the members to enjoy celebrating the club reaching 100 members! President Jennifer Lytchfield called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The pledge of allegiance followed. Secretary Tosha Thibeau read last month’s minutes. Treasurer Lisa Ramsey proceeded with the reading of the treasury report. The club was joined by a guest speaker from CJCHON who spoke about their organization and how our club donations are used to make a difference.
Old Business: Special Events Chairman Thomas Gage reminded club members of our monthly outings. Mashburn Mustang Museum’s yearly museum fundraiser will be Saturday, August 10th at 4 p.m. Riverside Grocery will have their food truck – $18 per plate. The club will cruise together. We will meet at 3:15 p.m. at Blue Haven restaurant. We will leave at 3:30 p.m. The club asks that a member go ahead of the cruise to video the club as we cruise in together.
New Business: Member Dale Meriweather’s daughter, Tyler Platt, invited club members to cruise by the Blake at Chenal Valley retirement community in Little Rock on August 23rd at 5 p.m. Special Events Chairman Thomas Gage and Membership Chairman Bill Gray are planning a museum cruise & tour of 8 different museums (date TBA). Old Fashioned Days – Saturday, October 12th for members wanting to display their cars. Club drive in movie on October 19th – more details are coming soon. Club Member Roger Weng shared that our local Petco invited members to bring their cars out to their pet adoption event on Saturday, August 24th. A flyer will be created soon with more information.
If you would like to attend a committee meeting for this month, here are the upcoming meeting dates. Membership Committee – Thursday, August 22nd at 6:30 p.m. located at Rib Crib. Special Events Committee – Wednesday, August 21 st at 6:30 p.m. located at Hideaway Pizza Publications Committee – Tuesday, August 27 th at 6 p.m. located at Starbucks Car Show Committee – Tuesday, August 20 th at 6 p.m. location TBA. (Message the club on Facebook for the upcoming decided location.)
Car show Chairman TJ Thibeau updated the club on updates on the upcoming car show. There will be a new FAN FAVORITE category. Each car will have an assigned number. That number will be on a big envelope at a table ran by Amy and Autumn Reed. To vote for your favorite, you will put $1 in the envelope of the numbered car you want to vote for. Amy & Autumn will be keeping a count and will post a top 10 on a big dry erase board for all to see as the show goes on keeping a constant count. At the end, the numbered envelope with the most money is the winner. Door Prizes will be announced every 30 minutes. The ticket number will be written on a dry erase board so people won’t have to keep asking us what the last number called was. At the trophy presentation, the car owner, number, and car description will be announced when they get their trophy. Their photo will be taken with their trophy behind a possible back drop. Safe Haven and The Call who we will be donating to were both invited to have an information booth at the show. They accepted our invite and will be joining us. We would like to invite CJON to do the same. We got a new sponsor. Donnell Insurance Agency donated $250! A big shout out to new member Dale for making wooden arrow signs! We need more volunteers for parking and kitchen shifts. We are in need of small car parts for possible 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place rat rod trophies. Thomas spoke with a school about possibly making some additional trophies. Club Secretary Tosha Thibeau listed multiple silent auction basket themes –gardening, Razorback, Christmas, spa, multiple car wash buckets, women’s basket, and more. Also, there will be a $500 AutoZone tool bundle! If you have any items you would like to donate to any of these baskets or for door prizes, please just send the club a message on Facebook or email us. The Car Show Committee asked for a motion to add a new charity to the list for club donations. We Are the 22 is an organization focused on direct veteran suicide intervention with teams on standby twenty-four hours a day to respond in person to Arkansas veterans in suicidal crisis to provide peer support and get them to the help they need. Special Events Chairman Thomas Gage made the motion and Membership Chairman Bill Gray made the 2nd to the motion. 35 members voted for the motion. There were no members against the motion. The motion passed.
Secretary Tosha Thibeau presented a possible club backdrop to be used at club events. She had multiple quotes of prices between $300-$400. A motion was made to purchase the backdrop keeping it within that price range. Car Show Chairman made the motion. Tina Collins made the 2nd. 32 members voted to approve the motion. No one opposed the motion. The motion passed. President Jennifer Lytchfield offered the idea of splitting the costs between the club, the 4 committees, and the miscellaneous fund to ease the cost.
Secretary Tosha Thibeau presented a website to be used to sell club merchandise. There are hundreds of items that can be purchased on the website. With each purchase, the club makes a decided percentage. You can purchase items, and they will be delivered to your home. After a club discussion, we agreed to set the percentage to 10%. A motion was made by Membership Chairman Bill Gray to proceed with the club merchandise website with a set percentage of 10%. Special Events Chairman Thomas Gage made a 2nd to approve. 34 members voted for the motion to pass with no one opposing. The motion passed.
Membership Chairman Bill Gray reminded members that he had club approved window decals for sale. Please contact him if you would like one. He also showed some embroidered hats.
Our new club cards are in. 20 cards were given to members who wanted to take a stack. Meeting was adjourned at 8:17 p.m.
Committee Meeting Minutes
Publications Committee The Publications Committee did not meet this month.
Car Show Committee The Car Show Committee met on Tuesday, July 16that La Hacienda in Benton at 6 p.m. There were 7 members present. Club VP Bob Perlinger confirmed that trophies and dash plaques were ordered. He received a quote of $5 per sign to change the date on the current signs. Member Roger Weng suggested a new way to decide the “People’s Choice” winner. Each car will have an assigned number. That number will be on a big envelope at a table ran by Amy and Autumn Reed. To vote for your favorite, you will put $1 in the envelope of the numbered car you want to vote for. Amy& Autumn will be keeping a count and will post a top 10 on a big dry erase board for all to see as the show goes on keeping a constant count. At the end, the numbered envelope with the most money is the winner. Door Prizes will be announced every 30 minutes. The ticket number will be written on a dry erase board, so people won’t have to keep asking us what the last number called was. At the trophy presentation, the car owner, number, and car description will be announced when they get their trophy. Their photo will be taken with their trophy behind a possible back drop. Stickers for sponsors can be made for future shows to be easily removed from the backdrop. Club Secretary Tosha Thibeau will price back dops to present to the club at the next monthly meeting. Committee Chairman TJ Thibeau will email Campbell to invite them to display vehicles at the show. An idea for next year’s car show was to let participants vote on their favorite member Dixie Car Club display vehicle. Club Secretary Tosha Thibeau will reach out to Rapid Car Wash for a possible donation. Possible silent auction additions – Hunting/fishing basket. Members will reach out to Bass Pro Shop and Academy Sports for a donation. Club Secretary Tosha Thibeau will reach out to Safe Haven, The Call, and CJCOHN and invite them to have a table at our car show to promote their nonprofits. Member Roger Weng brought a homemade trophy for one of the top Rat Rod prizes.
Membership Committee The Membership Committee did not meet this month. They spoke via text message on the following: We have 8 new members: Jeff Kalvza, Morris Whaley, Lloyd DeGerald, Joe and Melody Curreri, Buddy and Judy Sellers, and Bill Rawlings. We continue to have an information table set up at Third Thursday, Big Lots and David Burgers. We agreed to purchase a new label maker for making name tags. We have been using Lisa’s. We purchased the new membership cards. We currently have 100 members. Next meeting is Thursday August 22 at6:30pm at Rib Crib in Benton.
Special Events Committee A review was mentioned at the monthly meeting as was noted in the meeting minutes from the club meeting above.

Club well wishes go out to club member Porfirio Gutierrez who has been in the hospital, Ricky Cranford who is recovering from bypass surgery, club member Velta Shipps recovering from an injury due to a fall, and our newest little member Daniel Penn who was born 3 months early. Great news for little Daniel – he just reached 4 pounds! Our thoughts are with his parents, Aaron & Kassie Penn, who have been through a very long couple of months.
Member Vehicle of the MonthThe August Vehicle of the Month belongs to member Bob McLarty. It is an 80’s model Chevy Blazer. Congratulations to Bob!
Upcoming Events Monthly Meeting: 
EVERY 1ST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH – Wood Grill in Benton 6 pm to dine & 7 pm meeting begins. Benton Cars & Coffee: EVERY 1ST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH – Blue Heaven Restaurant in Benton 9 am – 11 am
Bryant Cars & Coffee: EVERY 1ST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH – AutoZone in Bryant 12 pm – 2 pm
Meet & Greet: EVERY 2ND TUESDAY OF THE MONTH – Big Lots in Benton 5 pm – 8 pm
Cruise In:  EVERY 3RD SATURDAY OF THE MONTH – David’s Burgers of Mabelvale 4 pm – 8 pm
Third Thursday: EVERY 3RD THURSDAY OF THE MONTH (Until October) – Downtown Benton 5 pm – 8 pm
Mashburn Mustang Museum’s Fundraiser: Saturday, August 10th at 4 p.m. Riverside Grocery will have their food truck – $18 per plate. The club will cruise together. We will meet at 3:15 p.m. at Blue Haven restaurant. We will leave at 3:30 p.m. The club asks that a member go ahead of the cruise to video the club as we cruise in together.
Special Cruise By: Blake at Chenal Valley retirement community in Little Rock on August 23rd at 5 p.m. Saline County Fair Parade: September 3 at 6 PM. The theme is “Cool Shades & Fair Days.”  You must be in place by 5:30 p.m. Lineup will start at C. W. Lewis football field parking on North Market Street. It is asked that you do not throw candy from your vehicle. The club can have members walking alongside the vehicles who to throw candy. The parade route map is shown below.
Dixie Car Club Charity Car Show: Saturday, September 28th – Saline County Fair Grounds Registration 8:30 am – 11:30 am
Club Classifieds

In Search Of The Dixie Car Club Car Show Committee is ISO spare parts that can be used to make Rat Rod trophies for the car show.
Contact Club Secretary Tosha Thibeau Phone: (501) 860-2409Email: dixiecarclub@gmail.com
For Sale If you would like to purchase a window decal, please contact Bill Gray. Phone: (501) 425-8975 Email: bill57g@gmail.com
If you have anything you would like to sale or something you are searching for, please contact the Dixie Car Club to be added to next month’s classified section. dixiecarclub@gmail.com
Member Birthdays

August Birthdays:
Judy Sellers
John Meyers
Autumn Thibeau
Gary Reed
Will Bates
Johnny Ramsey
Tony Sivewright
Club Secretary, Tosha Thibeau
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EVERYONE!

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