Fargo, North Dakota

A couple of weekends ago, I was busy helping with the Fargo Airsho! and running some other errands when I happened to drive by one of the local auto dealers. There were lots of cars parked on the street, so many, I could see that the car dealer must have had something really “big” going on. Driving by slowly, I could see a line of Volkswagens of all types and ages. I had stumbled upon a local Volkswagen club’s annual car show.

I parked in the nearest place, about three blocks from the show and grabbed my camera. The first row of vehicles featured the original VW “bus”, the Westfalia, the Vanagon  and a collection of camper vehicles. Those were the tip of the iceberg, however. Of course, there were plenty of custom classic Volkswagen “Beetles” in a wide range of conditions. The example below is apparently at the drive-in theater, note the speaker stand at the right. After the movie, they must be planning a trip to the beach.

Though the group’s mainstay is the air-cooled VW, they are open to new members with any kind of Volkswagen. At the show, there were several Karmann Ghias and even a couple of Volkswagen Things, the strange Jeep-like vehicles.

I visited some with one of the event organizers and found this show was the Red River VW Club’s 10th anniversary show, known as Volkswagens in the Valley. There were over 100 Volkswagens registered and on display, some having driven hundreds of miles. Sharp viewers of the gallery of images posted here will notice there were a lot of Canadian license plates. The club has only 60 members, but people come from long distances to show off their VW. You can find out more about the club at their website here. I submit for your review, a collection of Volkswagen images captured on a Saturday in July. Click on an image to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner