Classic Cars, Crowds Take Over Downtown Nyack

Expanded show hailed as a hit

BY BILL DEMAREST

NYACK – If you were walking down Main Street in Nyack on Thursday evening, it’s a sure bet that you had to watch your step to stay out of the way of someone taking photos.

Cameras – expensive pro rigs to cell phone cameras – were put to full use by visitors to the expanded Nyack Classic Car Night, which took over several blocks of Main Street to show off pampered cars ranging from a Model T to Corvettes. As local residents and newcomers to Nyack strolled down the closed-off Main Street, car lovers young and old couldn’t resist taking lots of pictures of their favorite cool cars.

Nyack community leaders and members of the business community hailed the expanded Classic Car Night as a success for the village, bringing crowds of visitors to the downtown on a July Thursday night. This is the third year for the Classic Car Night, but it was the first time the show took over Main Street so pedestrians could stroll in the street to get a close up view of about 200 cars.

Previously, the free show was located in the Nyack municipal parking lot off Main Street by the former Riverspace theater and included about 80 cars.

Nyack Mayor Jen Laird-White said the wide variety of cars and a gorgeous summer evening combined to make the Classic Car Night an instant hit for Nyack. The show, organized by the Nyack Chamber of Commerce, needed the approval of the Nyack Village Board to shut down Main Street for the display of classic cars.

Roger S. Cohen of Nyack, Chamber of Commerce vice president and one of the organizers of the car show, said he was pleased by the turnout for the expanded show. Cohen and other chamber leaders are hoping that by putting on a large car show that’s right on Main Street the event will become a regional attraction that will draw car enthusiasts from throughout the metropolitan area to see the cars – and visit local businesses, shops, restaurants and pubs.

Nyack resident Seth Kestenbaum thinks the show will indeed become a major regional event.

Kestenbaum showed off his 1929 Ford Model A 4-door convertible at the Classic Car Night. He told his friends in a regional Model A car club about the event and they in turn brought their Model A’s to the show – creating a Model A section at the corner of Main Street and Park Street. Just a short distance away was 1926 Model T, which was brought by an owner who heard about the show through the Model A collectors.

The Classic Car Night started around 5 p.m. and quickly filled up Main Street with pedestrians. The street remained busy and filled with visitors looking at the cars right up until about 9 p.m., when Main Street started to open again to traffic.

(Nyack Free Press)