Thankfully, most of the festival was held indoors in conference rooms, though some collectible diecast car dealers took their chances, setting up shop on the shadeless parking lot. Display cars, including a traveling Dukes museum of memorabilia and Beat the Heat, a program featuring a trio of supercharged police cars that is designed to discourage teens from drag racing by taking those same thrill seekers on in legal, sanctioned events on racetracks.
The festival was brought to Dyersville after the Johnny Lightning brand had participated in bigger, all-encompassing car collector shows in Chicago for some years, as well as Indiana-based Johnny Lightning shows that had taken place in the years prior to Chicago, when the brand was owned by the Indiana-based Playing Mantis company.
Those
| Advertisement |
|---|
|
|
For others, the trip was all about Dukes, Dukes and more "Dukes of Hazzard." The show, which made stars out of John Schneider and Tom Wopat in the late '70s and early '80s, has found unlikely new life in the form of licensed diecast collectibles produced by the Johnny Lightning brand.
Last year, Schneider was the featured guest of the festival. This year, Dukes actors James Best, who played Sheriff Roscoe, and Ben Jones, who played Cooter, were the featured celebrity guests. The two men drew fans that patiently waited through a lengthy line of fellow autograph hounds to get their Dukes memorabilia signed.
Bill and Kim Schafer, of Prairie du Chein, Wis., brought a boxed set of Dukes cars created during the show's original run. The package had already been signed previously by Jones, Schneider and Rick Hurst (Cletus). Their mission last Saturday was to add Best's "John Hancock" to the package. "We're going to try to get Daisy (Catherine Bach) and Enos (Sonny Shrover) down in Branson," Kim offered, revealing the next phase in their strategy. When asked about Wopat's conspicuously missing autograph, the couple smiled knowingly and offered that Wopat has been more elusive since he has been landing a steady flow of acting gigs on Broadway in New York City.
A man walking around in sheriff's garb with a badge that read, "Sheriff Hillbilly," was not exaggerating about his name as much as might be assumed. In fact, Billy Hill, from Silver Springs, Texas - and his parents, presumably - possesses the kind of healthy sense of humor that would be required of any good sport named "Billy Hill."
Hill brought his daughter Sydney and son Michael, along for the 850-mile ride. "The kids probably know James Best more from Mayberry," he said, referring to "The Andy Griffith Show" and its successor, "Mayberry RFD," which are shown on reruns.
Brad Jansen, of Jefferson City, Mo., attended the limited-seating, closed-door, Johnny Lightning Design Forum, led by senior designer, Tom Zahorsky. "It was informative. It gives us some insight and explains why we don't always see what we want to see," Jansen said, referring to such logistics as licensing ownership, negotiations and rights.
Dyersville's Dean Wessels visited the fest Saturday afternoon. "I always liked 'The Dukes of Hazzard,'" he said. "Last year, my brother didn't know anything about the show. He ran into John Schneider in the restroom at Piranha John's and told him, 'has anyone ever told you you look just like John Schneider?'"
See next week's Dyersville Commercial for an interview with former Farley resident and Johnny Lightning Senior Designer Tom Zahorsky.