MSRA 'Back to the 50's' Weekend June 23, 24, 25, 2006
submitted by Carl Ham

The 33rd annual 'Back to the 50's' weekend car show was held at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 23, 24 and 25. What has to be one of the largest car shows in the Midwest is hosted by the Minnesota Street Rod Association (MSRA) and over 11,100 vehicles (up to 1962) filled the fairgrounds on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. A single day attendance record was set on Saturday, June 24 with over 80,000 participants, vendors and spectators.

The fairgrounds are an excellent venue for the show, with rows and rows of streets well shaded with trees. All the major street rod vendors were there with large displays. Most of the fair food venders were open and many types of exotic foods were available for sampling.

Registration at the host hotel (about 30 minutes from the fairgrounds) was a snap, but finding a parking place on the fairgrounds proved to be a challenge. If you weren't at the fairgrounds by 7:00 AM, many of the prime locations under shade along the street were taken. We had no problem finding a nice spot each day to locate and then either 'people-watch' or walk about taking all the vehicles.

You couldn't begin to take in all the vehicles there in 3 days. There were a number of 'how-to' seminars (engine rebuilding, metalworking, painting and pin striping) to stop by and watch. Saturday's highlight was a Mecum vehicle auction while Sunday's swap meet is said to be one of the largest in the Midwest.

The weather was great all three days (sunny, highs in the mid-70's). It rained for 30 minutes Saturday morning but cleared for the rest of the day. Accommodations were reasonable as long as you didn't want to stay next to the fairgrounds and local attractions like the Mall of America and the Minnesota Twins baseball team helped in the evenings.

Registration for all 3 days was $25.00 and both my wife and I had a great time. We had a great time driving to the show (about 7 hours from our home in Illinois) and it was our second 'road-trip' in our truck in two years. If you haven't been to 'Back to the 50's', you owe it to yourself to take in this great weekend.

(Continue below for photos of the show.)