By LEAH WEATHERSBY

The ninth annual Greenwood Classic Car & Rod Show will take place on Saturday, June 30. The event, organized by the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce, drew over 560 cars and over 20,000 auto enthusiasts last year, and is expected to do the same this time around.

As in previous years, car show participants compete for prizes in 20 different categories including Best Classic and Best Convertible. Winners receive a framed poster for the event with a plaque.

This year's Greenwood Car Show poster feature's last year's Best of Show winner, a 1953 Studebaker entered by Doug Martin. Greenwood-Phinney Chamber President Michele Della Pella hopes to continue the tradition of featuring the most recent Best of Show winner on the posters in the future. The Legends Car Club will judge this year's Car Show.

Spectators need not go home empty-handed, either. Della Pella said that the Chamber has order twice as many t-shirts as they have in the past, because they always sell out. Also, there will be more vendors than ever.

The Car Show organizers faced an unexpected challenge this year when the event's longtime major sponsor, Fred Meyer, notified them in March that it wouldn't be sponsoring this year's show.

"The committee decided it was time to for a change and to give someone else in the community an opportunity to sponsor that event," said Rob Boley, a Fred Meyer spokesperson.

"We're very disappointed considering that they sponsored (the Car Show) for all the other years," Della Pella said. "I felt like it would have helped Fred Meyer's position in the community."

Fortunately for the Car Show, Carter Volkswagen/Saab and Bill Pierre Dodge have stepped forward to make up the sponsorship gap left by Fred Meyer.

"We're very excited by our new sponsors," Della Pella said. She also said the Chamber is very thankful for other major sponsors like Scan West Autosport, Red Mill Burgers, and in-kind donor Allegra Printing, which does all the Car Show's printing for free and donates their space for plug-ins on the day of the event.

One note of advice for car exhibitors: even if you're preregistered, you must arrive by 8:30 a.m. After that, Della Pella said, the event can run out of exhibition space fast. (Faster than a Thunderbird on the interstate, I bet.)