ESTEVAN — Estevan's informal car club made their 2022 season windup memorable not just for themselves, but also for many seniors in the community.
On Sept. 18, local owners of antique vehicles got together and drove by Estevan's three senior places.
Club president Nathan Dies said their year-end plans came out of a suggestion from the public, which turned into a heartwarming initiative.
"We didn't really have anything planned for the end of the year. Then I think Beckey Franke, she works at the hospital at the long-term care, she'd gotten a hold of me and asked if we can do an end of the year cruise past long-term care, and they'd bring the residents out," Dies said.
"So, over the course of a couple of weeks, we planned it out and worked the day, and really lucked out with the day we booked. The weather was beautiful. And we also decided that while we were going to do that, we'd hit up the two other seniors' homes in Estevan, so we did the Estevan nursing home, and we did Hill View Manor."
Over 40 cars gathered at a parking lot on the west side of Estevan from 1-2 p.m. on the day of the cruise. From there they headed down the highway to make a pass through the driveway at Hill View Manor. Then they went north to make a couple of passes by the Estevan Regional Nursing Home, and then onto the long-term care at St. Joseph's Hospital, where they stayed for about half an hour so that the residents could come out, look at the vehicles on display and visit.
"Everyone really enjoyed it," Dies said, adding that a lot of people came out to look at their cruise at all three places. "They enjoyed the vehicles. Some of them I think also had family members that showed up."
The turnout for the club was higher than during their monthly show and shine gatherings at the Estevan Market Mall. With the cruise by the seniors’ places, the club wrapped up their season, but they plan on getting back out in the community next year and probably repeat the initiative.
"It was a great turnout. And the weather worked in our favour. And we'll for sure do it again next year if we can," Dies said.
He also noted that they are not a formal club anymore, but rather are a Facebook group, uniting people who have a soft spot for antique vehicles. The Estevan Car Club or technically The Estevan Antique Auto Club Corp used to be an incorporated group, but in the last several years they had so few members that they decided to switch to being an informal club.
