Two classic trucks roll down Grant Road during the 40th Annual Les Schwab Classy Chassis Parade in East Wenatchee on Friday. A show featuring many of the vehicles in the parade runs from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at Eastmont Community Park.
A 2021 Chevy Corvette and a classic 1959 Chevy Corvette are parked side-by-side prior to the 40th Annual Les Schwab Classy Chassis Parade Friday night in East Wenatchee.
Two classic trucks roll down Grant Road during the 40th Annual Les Schwab Classy Chassis Parade in East Wenatchee on Friday. A show featuring many of the vehicles in the parade runs from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at Eastmont Community Park.
EAST WENATCHEE — The familiar thunder of Classy Chassis returned to its familiar time and place Friday evening.
Sal Rodriguez, of East Wenatchee, brought his 3-year-old son, Levi. They watched on a tiny hill above the sidewalk across the street from El Porton restaurant. “It’s like tradition,” Rodriguez said. “We just like to come over here every year.”
About 350 vehicles entered the parade this year, compared to 225 in 2021, city of East Wenatchee Events Director Trina Elmes said last week.
The parade’s famously eclectic lineup was on display Friday.
Tactical and emergency vehicles with sirens, pristine classics, a semi truck hauling the Eastmont High School Jazz Band. In a line of throaty muscle cars with several hundred horsepower was a wheezing 1980s Volkswagen — with several horsepower occupied by a group of laughing teenage boys.
A 2021 Chevy Corvette and a classic 1959 Chevy Corvette are parked side-by-side prior to the 40th Annual Les Schwab Classy Chassis Parade Friday night in East Wenatchee.
This was the first running of the Classy Chassis on its normal schedule since 2019. The parade was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19 and in 2021 organizers put together a modified version after getting the green light to host the Classy Chassis a month before the event date.
The Classy Chassis, first hosted in 1981, typically falls on the last Friday of the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival.
The parade began at North Georgia Avenue before turning west onto Grant Road and then north on Valley Mall Parkway. Both sides of the 1.5-mile parade route were lined by people — almost three miles of onlookers.
Rodriguez grew up going to the Classy Chassis and wants to keep the custom alive with his son.
“They’ve been bringing me since before I could even drive,” Rodriguez said of his family. “I kind of want to pass it down, keep it going.”
Rodriguez said he hoped to see lowriders in the parade and that Levi “likes any car that’s yellow because he likes ‘Transformers.’” Yellow being the color of Bumblebee, a popular “Transformer.”
The parade was followed by Dancing in the Street with music by The Stoney River Band at Gateway Park.
As part of Classy Chassis, a car show will be hosted from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at Eastmont Community Park.
Pete O’Cain is a graduate of Central Washington University and served in the Marines Corps. He previously covered public safety and led The World's wildfire coverage.
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