The Iola Old Car Show's birth was a humble one. Its origins date to July 16, 1972, when Chet Krause extended to a couple score area collector car enthusiasts of his acquaintance to attend the 17th annual Iola Lions Club Chicken Roast fundraiser held at the Ingval Olson Memorial Park as his guests. Having enticed them with the offer of two free chicken dinners if they would drive one of their vintage vehicles to the event, this resulted in the display of more than 20 vehicles, including Chet's pair of vintage Model T Fords. The first "official" show was held on July 15, 1973 — billed as the "Iola Lions Club Antique Auto Festival, Chicken Roast and Donation Auction" - with more than 90 collector cars on exhibit. Launch of the Old Cars newspaper in the fall of 1971 provided Chet's impetus for the 1972 invitation, stimulated his latent interest in old cars as a hobby, and drove a developmental interest in growing the event, that by 1977 grew into being widely known and now billed as the Iola Old Car Show. In 1976 the event moved to the grounds adjoining the new (late 1975) Krause Publications location at 700 E. State Street, by which time it had grown to include over 500 show cars and 10,000 attendees. Today, it annually attracts more than 125,000 enthusiasts to enjoy more than 2,200 show cars on display and explore more than 4,400 vendor spots.
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