WATCH NOW: Kenosha Homecoming Car Show draws thousands to Kennedy Park Saturday

The 2022 Kenosha Homecoming Car Show drew thousands of car enthusiasts from across the nation to Kennedy Park on Saturday.

The world’s largest AMC/ Nash vehicle show, hosted by the Kenosha History Center, served as a huge weekend showcase for the week’s Homecoming events, which returned this summer after five years.

Drivers from across North American displayed their vehicles in the park, 4051 Fifth Ave., and swapped materials and tips. Those in attendance indicate they were happy to be back at the event.

“There’s a nice crowd here and there’s a lot of people representing other states here. It shows that Kenosha in its day of industrial production touched many, many lives throughout the United States,” former Kenosha alderman Patrick Juliana said while attending with his family.

Juliana, who worked for AMC in the late 1970s and early 1980s, said the event brings back “a lot of good memories.”

“We had a lot of great people who worked there,” he said. “As a matter of fact, I feel that the City of Kenosha had the best workforce of all the automotive industries put together. We had very, very high-quality products with a lot of good people working here.”

Mike Spangler, one of the event organizers, said it’s “wonderful being back.”

Spangler, of Jefferson, said Saturday felt like a “family reunion.”

“I come down here a lot and we had a lot of planning meetings over the last couple of years to get this going,” he said. “You don’t see this anywhere else in the country. The next biggest AMC show is probably 200 or 300 cars. We have well over 1,000 cars.”

Spangler said AMC has a special place in many Kenoshans’ hearts because “most everybody knows somebody who worked for them if they didn’t work for them themselves.”

Spangler owns 17 AMC vehicles and brought an orange Gremlin to the event.

Tracy McCarthy brought her prize-winning pink 1959 Nash Metropolitan.

“We’ve had it about four-and-a-half years, and it was restored about 15 to 18 years ago. The previous owner had it for about nine years. The previous owner took great care of it,” she said.

McCarthy said whenever she drives the car people honk and wave.

“You cannot drive this car and be in a bad mood,” she added. “Sometimes I just take it to the grocery store. If I have a bad day at work and I need a pick-me-up, I drive this car.”

Greg Voss, of New London, brought a bronze 1981 Scrambler to the event.

“It’s the cleanest Scrambler in the state of Wisconsin, I can tell you that,” he said. He put about $15,000 into the vehicle he purchased for just a few thousand dollars.

This was also his first time in Kenosha.

“There’s a lot of cars here,” he said. “This is the biggest AMC show around, guaranteed.”