ALAMOSA — Despite having to end early because of windy conditions, the first-ever Alamosa Veterans Memorial Park Car and Motorcycle Show went off without a hitch on Saturday.
“I think the show went well,” said Janey Yohn, vice-chair of the memorial committee. The plan is to have the event every year. “We made some mistakes, but the one thing I want to say about the monument is that it’s for Veterans and for their families. I’m very excited about it. I can’t say how many hours we put into it. We made a few errors, but I think it went off pretty good. My husband and his family are all car people and we though the show was a pretty good idea.”
The show, which was the idea of Jamie Dominguez, benefitted the building of the Alamosa Veterans Memorial Park which will be built just south of the Alamosa County Complex.
“The monument is going to be right in front of the county annex,” Yohn said. “It’s on Airport Road and there’s an orange cone sitting right where it’s going to be. It will be visible from Highway 285.”
The Best in Show Award went to Yohn Brothers and the Emilio Lujan Memorial. Other awards saw Johnny Marlin/Clive win the best Chevy, Jim and Linda Montoya win the best Ford and Ben Martinez win the best Mopar. Joe Aguilar won Ladies Choice, Pat Mascarenas won Veterans Choice, and Doug Hollar win Commissioners Choice.
The Top 15 cars in order went to Carlos Large, Brad Atencio, Orlando Archuleta, Moses Garcia, Lori Sharp, Ray Garcia, Lance O’Dowd, Sid and Charlie, Claudio Sanchez, Joe Griego, Pat Mascarenas, Larry Richardson, Joe Aguilar, Richard Garcia, and Julian Espinoza.
The Top 3 motorcycles in order went to David Farley, Jeff Maestas and Doug Hollar.
There was also recognition of Veterans from around all six counties in the San Luis Valley. The list included Robert Demick, an Army Veteran from Costilla County, Monte Collins, an Army Veteran from Alamosa County, Jim Van Ry, a Navy Veteran from Mineral County, Lyle Dye, a Marine Veteran from Rio Grande County, Steve Salazar, an Army Veteran from Conejos County, and Alfred Weiss, an Army Veteran from Saguache County.
Demick served in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Collins, Van Rye, Dye, Salazar, and Weiss all in Vietnam.
The amount raised by the car and motorcycle show was not available.
