Green Valley Park provides the people of Payson, Arizona, with 17 acres of grass-covered and tree-studded parkland, 13 acres of lakes, 3.8-miles of walking paths, three picnic ramadas, two public restrooms and plenty of paved parking. Oh, and one terrific classic and custom car show.
People in Payson use those lakes for fishing in the summer and for ice skating in the winter.
What? Ice skating in Arizona?
Indeed, Payson is up on the Mogollon Rim, where it freezes in the winter and where people from Phoenix head in the summer seeking refuge from the triple-digit temperatures in the well-named Valley of the Sun.
Each April, the Rim Country Classic Auto Club stages its annual Beeline Cruise-In Charity Car Show in Green Valley Park. The show presumably is named after the Beeline Highway, once a two-lane mountain road but now a four-lane highway that provides wonderful scenery as it runs from the valley up to the rim.
Last year, it snowed on the Beeline car show, but this year, the 22nd for the show, provided a gorgeous day, sunny with temperatures in the 60s.
Although the show is held on a Saturday, the weekend includes a Friday afternoon cruise-in around town.
The Rim Country club is nearing its 30th anniversary and includes some 60 members. And they’re an active group, as many as can gather for breakfast further up the rim Friday mornings in Pine, Arizona. There also are monthly movie nights, frequent show-and-shine cruise-ins, and club members often travel together to classic car shows in other communities.
Photos by Larry Edsall
Would really like to show my 65 Mercury Comet at 2016 car show do you have any other car shows in Payson in 2015 if so let me know I am interested in attending.
Lovely photos, looks like a great collection of cars.
Larry Edsall, thank you for the great article covering our 22nd Bee Line Cruise. Seems each year we get some of the best unique autos in the our state which says a lot about our show. We try to make it worth the drive to Payson for our guest and next year will be no exception.