The 55th Annual Meet was held in Kalamazoo and Hickory Corners, MI, on June 25-30, 2012. Our host hotel was the Holiday Inn West in Kalamazoo. Dave and Diana Stevens were the meet co-chairs assisted by registrars Bill Morris and Wilma Hunter-Morris and a very capable committee.
Dave and Diana arranged for a full and interesting week of events interspersed with �garage hops,� tours of impressive car collections starting Monday, June 25, for early arrivals. Tuesday was the Pierce-Arrow Society Board meeting followed by a meeting of the Pierce-Arrow Foundation, the organization for our fine museum. Optional tours that day were to Paw Paw, MI, and the Lawton Ridge Winery. That Tuesday evening was our traditional and popular Welcome Party at the Holidome at our host hotel.
Wednesday we visited the Kellogg (of cereal fame) Manor overlooking Gull Lake then the OFF (only for fun) Bros. car collection followed by lunch at the Gull Lake Yacht club on Gull Lake. Then we were off to the Gilmore Car Museum and our Pierce-Arrow Museum in Hickory Corners. For those of us who had not been there in several years, it was a real treat to see the expansion of this impressive complex. In addition to the Gilmore cars and our Pierces, there are the Franklin Collection museum, a Ford Model A Museum to open this year, a future Lincoln Museum and a future Cadillac-LaSalle Museum (check the Gilmore car Collection website). Wednesday night Dave arranged two more �garage hops,� and we had dinner on our own.
Thursday was the trip to Saugatuck, MI, a beautiful town near Lake Michigan. In two groups we took boat rides on the river leading out to Lake Michigan and had lunch at the Coral Gables restaurant. There was an ice cream stop (a Pierce-Arrow must), a visit to Macatawa Boat Works, and, naturally, there was an optional car collection visit. We returned to the hotel, then took London buses to the Kalamazoo Air Museum. The Air Zoo has been greatly expanded since many of us were there at the 2002 Kalamazoo Meet. It is truly an impressive interactive Museum. We had a nice dinner on the museum floor accompanied by a barbershop quartet.
Friday we visited the car collection of Red and Marilyn McFadden, then went on to the town of South Haven on Lake Michigan. There were three groupings for a sail on the Friends Good Will, an 1810 merchant vessel sloop. We enjoyed a nice lunch under a tent at the South Haven Yacht Club. Dinner that night was at the Pine West restaurant within walking distance of the hotel. We were entertained there by a female barbershop quartet. Then we enjoyed the traditional Swap Meet and Vintage Attic at the hotel.
What a great week � everything so well organized, many Pierces, good weather, excellent directions in the Tour Guide (unlike one year when 4 Pierces were facing each other at 4 stop signs) and good conversations and fun with our Pierce friends.
Again, thank you to Dave and Diana, Bill and Wilma and their committee for a most enjoyable week.
If you have not experienced a Pierce-Arrow Society Annual Meet, we encourage you to join us. We will be in Minden, Nevada next year, July 23-27, 2013. We hope to see you there! More information about the 2013 meet will be posted soon.
Pierce-Arrows gather at the Holiday Inn West in Kalamazoo.
Pierce-Arrows tour Michigan's scenic back roads.
Wade & Jeanne Smith arrive at the Off Brothers Collection in their 1913 48-B Runabout.
One of the tour stops was the Off Brothers Collection.
What is Tony Zappone shooting at?
Tony Doughty demonstrates it really is a one-man top!
PAS Emporium Editor Rick & Diane Morrison brought their Series 80 4-Door Coach. Compare the rear window treatment of the Morrison's 4-Door Coach to the Hancock's 4-Door Deluxe (right).
Wayne & Nancy Hancock's Series 80 4-Door DeLuxe.
The height of Pierce-Arrow Luxury! Jim King's 1927 Series 36 EDL with embroidered interior and gold hardware.
Marc & Deedee Hamburger's 1931 Model 41 Lebaron Club Sedan.
Diane Gallets displays her "Pierce-Arrow" wagon and a Pierce bird cage next to her 1927 Series 80 4-Passenger Touring.
A row of 1936 (and one 1937) Pierce-Arrows on the show field at Gilmore.
We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of photographs from the meet photographers: Clara Blair, Pat Doughty, Joan May, Trish McKittrick, Terry Ernest, and Roger Sherman. Their contributions greatly assists with preparation of the banquet slide show, this web page, and the meet issue of The Arrow.