Birthplace of Speed

On Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving, Ormond Beach will once again pay homage to the automobile and the city's substantial place in its evolution. This area's long association with racing began on the hard packed sand of Ormond Beach in March 1903. For eight years the small seaside community was the world's center of racing. During those formative years, inventors with names like Olds, Winton, Ford, Chevrolet, Stanley and Packard came to test their machines on the only reliable flat track in the United States.

At 7 p.m. on Friday, over 300 cars will leave the Casements on the east side of the Halifax River on Granada, lined up in chronological order, making the Gaslight Parade a true rolling history of the evolution of the automobile. Sponsored and staged by the Volusia Region AACA, it is one of the finest, if not the finest, antique automobile parades in the world.

On Saturday, the Birthplace of Speed Antique Car show will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Presented by the Volusia Region AACA, the show will consist of approximately 150 of the finest restored and original antique/classic cars in the southeast. The unique setting along the Intracoastal Waterway in the beautiful Fortunato Park, on the N.E. corner, will be a fitting showplace for such fine automobiles as the Dusenberg, Packard, Cord, Lincoln, Mercedes, and Jaguar. Many of the drivers will wear period costumes to match their cars.

Spectators will be admitted free to all events. While viewing the antique auto show, visitors are invited to enjoy musical entertainment, purchase old-fashioned food samplings, and visit many of Ormond's historical treasures - the Cupola, the Historical Trust MacDonald House and the Ormond Memorial Art Museum and Gardens.

Come celebrate "The Birthplace of Speed" in Historic Ormond Beach this Thanksgiving weekend! For more information, contact Ken with AACA Volusia Region at 386-566-2537 or go to www.aaca.org/volusia.