Cannon Beach Gazette: Stories

The Ferrari Club of America is scheduled to set up shop on the street, outside Morris’ Fireside Restaurant, from 4 to 7 p.m. And it won’t just be Ferraris on display. Porsche, Maserati, Mercedes, Cadillac and close to 40 other exotic vehicles will also be parked and available for inspection.

“The club is for car enthusiasts so some people bring Mercedes-Benz, McLaren SLR, there are usually some Porches,” Steve Wintermantel, a member of the Northwest Region of the Ferrari Club of America, said. “The Northwest branch has approximately 300 members, mostly centered in Portland and Seattle. There are a few members out of Cannon Beach.”

One member and Cannon Beach resident, Mike Johnson, said he joined the club after attending the street shows each year and drooling over the impressive cars. He still doesn’t own one, but someday…

“You don’t have to have a car to join the club, you just have to have an interest,” he said. “It’s fun just being around the guys and the cars. It’s a whole group of new people to get to know and everybody thinks they are going to be snotty but most of them are the most down-to-earth guys. They are just regular people.”

For the last six years, the club has chosen Cannon Beach to host the car show and fundraiser they include along with it. The club picks area organizations (last year the Haystack Rock Awareness Program was a recipient) and donates profits from the car show and several member-only events to the cause. This year, club members will donate to the South County Food Bank and the Cannon Beach Fire Department.

“We know the weather from this last winter hit everyone pretty hard,” Wintermantel said. “Everyone relied on the food bank. So we thought that it would be good to this time pick something that everyone relies on to focus our efforts. Same thing with the fire department, that way maybe the money can go toward a piece of equipment or whatever they need.”

Johnson, who is a volunteer with the fire department, said they plan to use donations to purchase specific supplies, like new blades for the chainsaw or rope. Money won’t just go into the general fund.

“All of these guys love supporting the community,” Johnson said. “There are really some good things the club is doing. This is one of the biggest car shows in Oregon or the Pacific Northwest even. One of the largest gatherings of Ferraris and Italian sports cars.”

In past years, the club has offered the public rides in the cars to raise additional money. Due to liability, rides will not be offered this year but instead public voting for “Best in Show” and other categories will occur during the street show and trophies will be handed out.

Cars will start arriving in town on Friday, May 2 and most of the members stay the weekend. As it is the same weekend as Spring Unveiling (local artist Jeffrey Hull even painted the picture on this year’s Ferrari Club poster), Johnson said he thinks the combination of fine art and fine cars should make for a memorable weekend to be in Cannon Beach.