Geezer Gathering 2017: Car lovers’ dream day

There was a time when calling someone a “geezer” might have earned you a punch in the nose.

These days, there’s a bunch of guys who wear the term like a badge. They’re the car guys lucky enough to be invited to the “Geezer Gathering” held each year in Old Town.

It’s an invitation-only party of car lovers and this year’s 12th anniversary edition was held last weekend, attracting an estimated 130 vintage cars, hot rods, trucks, customs and race cars.

The whole thing was the brainstorm of Roy Merritt, a collector of old cars, who invited a bunch of car buddies to his home in east Wichita. Now known as the “Head Geezer,” Merritt agreed to move the event to its current location after it quickly outgrew his residential property.

We’ve been fortunate enough to be invited to every Geezer Gathering and been allowed to document several of them. This year’s gathering featured perfect weather, great food (as usual, thanks to Joe Whaley and his crew of cooks), amazing vehicles and a chance to reminisce with old friends and make a few new ones. Bonus: we always find a couple of cars to feature in this space somewhere down the road.

Thanks to Tanya Merritt for giving us the opportunity to shoot a few high-angle frames from atop the old Bond Bakery building, which now serves as Geezer Gathering headquarters, and to Chuck Grauel for the historic tour of the building.

Check out the online images at www.kansas.com for a taste of the 2017 Geezer Gathering.

This story was originally published October 11, 2017 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Geezer Gathering 2017: Car lovers’ dream day."