Print edition: 
What started as an ambitious one-man effort to stage a motorcycle show has grown into one of the area’s major car/motorcycle shows. We’re talking about "The Park City Chill" at the Kansas Pavilions.
The creation of Richard Bartel, "The Chill" will run Feb. 24-26 in its third year and is expanding rapidly.
"The word is finally getting out and I believe this year is going to be bigger than last year. It’s growing to where there is more than just me promoting it," Bartell said.
He anticipates having more than 600 vehicles on display, with 39 classes for motorcycles and 52 for cars and trucks.
There will be live concerts all three days, a fashion show and swimsuit competition and even gunfight exhibitions. An awards ceremony at 3:30 p.m. Sunday will cap the festivities.
It will be another step toward getting the car show season rolling into gear. And Bartel said the new ownership of the Pavilions has agreed to host "The Chill" at least through 2016.
We hope to provide photo coverage of the show, just in case you can’t be there yourself. But, hey, it’s February and who needs more excuse than that to blow the cobwebs off and get out to a car show?
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On a much more somber note, the car community lost a couple of standouts in recent weeks.
Bryson Mills, one of the creators of "Back Stretch Racing," an informal group of vintage round track racers in Newton, died Jan. 19 at the age of 75. He had begun building a replica of his favorite early track roadster before he fell ill.
His buddies pitched in and were able to get the car together as a rolling chassis and body so that he could see it before he passed away. Fittingly, one of the memorials established in his name is with the Belleville High Banks Hall of Fame, a museum dedicated to dirt track racing.
The other car guy who won’t be with us this year is Rick Gannon, the radio voice who kept folks posted on car shows each weekend and served as a DJ at some events.
Rick logged 40-some years on-air in Wichita. He died at the age of 67 on Feb. 1.
"There never was a bigger cheerleader for the car community than Rick Gannon," said Cheryl Boyes of the Marauders Car Club.
