33rd Annual Route 54 Cruisers Car Show

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The Rt. 54 Cruisers 33rd Annual Car Show will be held in Downtown El Dorado Springs on Saturday, May 9. We are hoping for a beautiful day filled with sunshine and cars gather from the four-State area to share their love of cars and trucks.

It will be a busy day with registration from 8-11 a.m. Registration for the show is $20. Presentation of awards will be at 2 p.m. A delicious breakfast of sausage, biscuits and gravy will be served by the POPS Museum. At 10, kids will gather in the Park for one of our newer events just for kids 12 years of age and under. There will be a hunt for hot wheels cars, then their name will be entered in a drawing for a remote control car. Last year we had over 30 kids show up to participate in this event. Each child gets to keep the car they found so we should have a happy bunch of kids. This year we will divide the kids into two groups. A group for older kids and younger children, with each group having the possibility of winning a remote control car. A special thank you to Turner Fugate for the idea and to Delbert Bybee and Susan Payne for implementing the idea into a reality. Instructions will be given the day of the show for all the participants.

We will have a 50/50 pot drawing. Tickets will be sold for this event. We will once again have a raffle for a rifle. The tickets will be $5 each of five tickets for $20. This year’s rifle is a Henry rifle. Guys stop by to see this beautiful gun. The winner of the gun will be announced during awards presentation. We will also auction off a beautiful quilt made with Rt. 54 Cruisers T-shirts. This year’s quilt features a patriotic theme for celebrating America’s 250 Anniversary. Rick Swank has dreamed up a creation for us to auction. It is a lamp made from a piston with an air cleaner lamp shade. We have a special donation by the Larry Weinbrenner family. Larry created many miniature scenes and we have been given a “Diner scene” complete with carhops and cars. It will be a part of our auction. Once again this year the Stockton American Legion Honor Guard will present colors as Mr. Alumbaugh sings the National Anthem. We enjoy closing our show with this wonderful reminder of the great country in which we live and the price that others have paid for the freedoms we take for granted.

Thee are 11 classes with dash plaques for the first 100 entries. Each class will be presented a trophy for the tops five cars. We will have out of town judges for this event. The big prize of the day is the Best of Show award. Best of Show recipient will receive a trophy, $200 cash award and a picture of their car will be on our next year’s car club T-shirt.

We want to thank all the Rt 54 Cruisers who pull together and make the show happen. Thanks to our welcoming committee, our registration team and the guys who direct traffic. Our sponsors are an integral part of our show each year and we want to give them a big thank you for their faithfulness.

It’s a privilege to live and serve the El Dorado Springs and Tri-County area. The money earned during the 2026 Ft. 54 Cruisers will be used for scholarships, family emergencies and community club needs. This year we are donating a total of $10,000 for scholarships. We will award five senior each a $2,000 scholarship.

Officer for 2025-2026 year are Turner Fugate, president (417) 296-5025, Bryce Payne, vice president (417) 876-7132, Delbert Bybee, secretary and Janelle Fugate, treasurer.

Who we are and what we do

For 33 years, we have met monthly for dinner and to talk about our cars and car club business.

The 54 Cruisers currently have 56 members.

On May 9th we will host our 33rd annual 54 Cruisers Car Show.

Our members attend parades, cruise-ins and car shows in other towns. We visit local businesses with our cars to help bring the community together to shop, eat or enjoy our cars. One of our favorite visits each year is to our local nursing home. Many of the club members enjoy these group outings.

We raise money from dues, show sponsorship, show participants, T-shirt sales and other items.

We donate to various charities and promote El Dorado Springs and surrounding communities. We give financial help during personal disasters, fires and family emergencies, as well as yearly scholarships.

The following are some of the activities we have been involved with and the amount we have contributed as of Dec. 31, 2025:

Scholarship: $48,395; Christmas Baskets, Toy drive: $30,081 (El Dorado Springs, Stockton and Nevada); Fires/disasters and family emergencies: $26,430; Civic groups: $8,550; Total: $113.456.