C10 truck gathering scheduled for Saturday

The C/10 Club of Kentucky, which is dedicated to Chevrolet C10s, will be putting on its “Big O C/10 Gathering” from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Real Hacienda, 4820 Frederica St, in Towne Square North.

According to Mike Autry, the club’s vice president and the event organizer, this particular gathering has been put on for about six years.

“I started off with it at West Side Truck Parts using (the business’ lobby),” he said. “... What we (did) the first year is that we brought food in ourselves, but the next year (I realized) I didn’t want the cleanup; I’ll find a restaurant.”

Autry said Real Hacienda was on board from “then on” and finds the collaboration has worked out well considering both the restaurant and other establishments are within the vicinity.

“People can go in and eat and walk around the parking lot,” he said. “... Everything is pretty much there.”

Autry said the gathering itself in terms of the vehicles that will be on-site are “mainly Chevy trucks from ‘47 to ‘87,” while organizations like the C/10 Club of Kentucky have come to have a “nationwide” appeal.

“Every 50 states, there’s a club there and they have big meets all over,” he said. “I (saw) them in a magazine … and seeing that they were doing (these) in other places, and then I got involved with it and wanted to try and do one.”

Autry finds it’s been “pretty successful” and aims to do one meet a year locally and sometimes an additional one if possible.

Regarding the Owensboro event, Autry said it’s brought in folks beyond state lines.

On average, Autry estimates around 200 to 300 people have been in attendance each year.

“I’ve had people come from Muncie, Indiana, from Nashville — just all over,” he said. “... It’s a brotherhood type of thing, and then you get more people interested in it too.

“You wind up with a friendship with these trucks and it’s almost like a family reunion ….”

Autry finds people enjoy the C10 models because of the positive nostalgia the trucks bring.

“... A lot of people’s granddads or fathers had (these) trucks growing up,” he said.

And even if one is not a C10 owner, Autry still encourages people to come out.

“I like to see as many people as I (can),” he said. “... It’s really something to see.”

For more information about the event, visit or message the “Big O C/10 Gathering” page on Facebook.