General Club Events:

MONTHLY MEETINGS

  Our Club meetings are always held on the 3^rd Saturday evening of the month at 6 PM, with only a few exceptions. We always meet at a restaurant where we'll have a meal and the business part of the meeting will take place after we finish eating. Generally a meeting will last until approximately 8:30 PM at which time everybody goes his/her own way. That could mean you depart for places elsewhere or maybe looking at the cars in the parking lot if the weather permits.

  The menu selection is published in the newsletter approximately a week and a half prior to the meeting. You can make your selection known 2 ways: 1) a designated caller will call you prior to the preceding Thursday and will ask for your choice/s or 2) you can call the president before the end of Wednesday prior to the meeting and make your choice known. The restaurants need a good idea how many people are going to attend for seating space as well as for food preparations. The only thing we ask is if you commit to attending the meeting and you've made your menu selection and then you have to cancel, you need to call the president so he can have the restaurant adjust the food order. We will be charged for each meal ordered so we need to be aware if this situation.

CLUB NEWSLETTER

  The contents of the newsletter usually includes minutes from the last meeting, notice of the next meeting location and menu selections, articles of interest that are picked up from other newsletters or submitted by our own members, a club calendar, members' email addresses, wrap-up articles on completed events, information on upcoming events, members' birthdays and anniversaries, technical articles, and other miscellaneous items. The editor/s publish the club newsletter and it's mailed to all members approximately a week and a half prior to the next meeting so each member has time to determine if they're going to attend the next meeting and what their menu selection will be.

SPECIAL CLUB EVENTS:

World Of Wheels Show

 This event, a national traveling show, takes place early in April and is presently held at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Our Club’s primary function is ticket taking at several locations and working security on Friday, the first day of the 3-day show. Our Club has members available for security and ticket taking duty from 9 AM Friday morning till 9 PM that same evening. During show time, our club has 12 to 18 members on duty at any one time with members working as much as 6 hours to as little as 2 hours. A Club member organizes the working schedule and coordinates the activities with the management of the Convention Center and the show organizers. In the past our Club has had a car display in the show with 3 to 5 cars on display. A Club table is set up to answer questions and to seek out new members. This is one of the largest fund raising event the Club has and it’s weal attended for that very reason.

Spring Cruise

  Generally held in late May, this is arranged as a Sunday event. Early in the year, a member will volunteer to organize this event and it usually goes like this: a) meet at a general location in or near the Twin City area anywhere from 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM, 2) cruise to a site of interest such as a museum, a park, or just about anything, 3) stop for lunch which can be at a restaurant or picnic and then 4) depart for home. This is the 1^st event of the year and most of the time the 1^st outing with the classic cars after sitting all winter in storage. But members are anxious to get the season going and are more than willing to take part in the event.

Summer Events

  There are numerous other events during the summer that keeps the club active.  They include car shows that members of our club may be involved in and ask other T-Bird members if they would like to display their  car. Some of these may include the Willmar Car show in Willmar, MN. Dam Days in Morristown, MN and Karl Oskar Days in Lindstrom, MN. Other events include the June cruise to our meeting place at Bootleggers in Mayer, MN. and a August cruise with the Corvette club.  All in all, these are great times, not only seeing different cars at different shows but meeting new people that have the same interest.

New Brighton

  As part of the New Brighton Stockyard Day celebration, our Club takes part in working a car show held Sunday in early August. Thunderbird Midwest works with the Early V8 car club to make all of the arrangements for this event including the field preparations, parking cars, taking tickets, and conducting the event. Many of our members will volunteer to work the gates and other show duties as well as entering their cars for competition. It’s becoming a very popular car show to the point of needing more room for displaying the cars. The profits from this event are then split 3 ways between the city of New Brighton, the early V8 club and our Thunderbird Midwest club.

Wings & Wheels Car Show 

  This show has been a club favorite for a number of years and there’s lots of reasons for this. 1) Lots and lots of cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc. on display for your viewing pleasure. All makes and models are on hand from the very old, to classics, to the very new, to the very rare. 2) Lots of events at the local airport with displays, with air shows throughout the day, helicopter rides are given available based on weather conditions, pancake breakfast, and new things every year. 3) The city of Osceola have set up a craft show right downtown in a park area with demonstrations and entertainment throughout the day. The local merchants have also joined in the fun by opening their shops for the visitors and have lots of crafts and other items for sale.

  The visitors to the show can hop on a shuttle that continuously travels between the 3 event sites all day. It really makes for a fun day and you’re not just stuck at a car show. There is so much to do and see that the day really goes fast. Oddly enough, the entire show is free so what can you ask for? It’s a great show for the whole family.

Fall Cruise

  This essentially is a touring event, held either the 1^st or 2^nd Sunday in October, to view the fall colors. Again, like most of the other club events, a member will volunteer his/her time to arrange this event that usually starts at a designated meeting location about mid-morning. The leader or organizer will have a planned cruise mapped out as well as any stops or points of interest he/she has scheduled for the group. These outings can be just about any thing the organizer thinks would interest the club members attending. The meal can be a potluck picnic, a catered picnic, or a pre-arranged meal at a restaurant. Special stops can be any points of interest and a few of the past stops included museums, antique shops, shopping areas and tourist attractions, parks, boat rides, etc. Like all of our club driving events, the Thunderbirds are the preferred vehicle but sometimes they need repair and then they’re not available for an event. Therefore, we encourage everyone to attend with or without their T-Birds. Drive a family car or truck but join the group and take part in this fun event.

  This is one of the better-attended events of the entire season. It’s probably a number of reasons but it is signaling the end of the classic car season and maybe the last chance to drive your favorite car. Within a month or so, most of these cars will have been stored for the winter and won’t be out and about till the following April or May. So why not one last cruise with the old classic and join the rest of the club members in a fun outing?

Christmas party

  Held every year on the first Sunday of December, this has become the most attended Club event by far. Since 1996 or so, we have held this party at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington and the attendance has reached the 90 to 100 level. A member or a couple will volunteer to organize the event that includes a catered buffet style meal put on by the Hall. Although it’s up to the organizer, we have exchanged HIS and HER gifts for those who wish to participate and have brought gifts for Toys for Tots. A meeting is usually conducted by the president that basically thanks the volunteers who made everything happen during the past year. Every 2 years elections are conducted for the officers that will lead the Club for the next couple of years. This is the last Club event until the January meeting approximately a month and a half later.