VAL AIR - GRAND RE-OPENING

The Val Air Ballroom underwent an extensive, $15,000,000 renovation that took close to two years.  We heard about an open house that sounded like a great chance for me to FINALLY get inside and for Cindy to reconnect to the glory days of the '60s.  Gary Pullen started reaching out saying they wanted some cars from the '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s to get there early and be part of the open house "experience".  We weren't going to say no to that!

So down we went on a beautiful late February day with the temps in the upper 60s.  I was in a t-shirt and no worries.  We even joked some people might get a sunburn.  I borrowed Jacob's "big" camera...it has a bigger sensor so the pictures turned out great.  The beautiful blue sky helped.

Cindy had called a few day before and spoke with one of the owners (Doug).  She told him it was her haunt on Thursday nights back in the late '60s.  Also shared that I have a coat check tag we use as a keychain and that I have a Val Era shirt.

When we got down there, Gary was helping cars get parked.  We got a nice spot in front the "Edsel Family" but it was clear people got there WAY early to get those prime spots up front.  We had a nice time visiting with people we've met and others we hadn't.  We did track down Doug to show him what we have.  I printed two pictures for him to keep.  One was Mary Lou in front of the Val Air from August 2022 and other was a picture of the keychain.  He took a picture of my shirt (see below) and was going to take a picture of the coat check tag but "I said I can do you one better...here are photos for you to keep".

Keychain photo

Photo from August 2022

One thing you will notice is how the building and grounds were cleaned up.  They removed the siding that was put on years ago as a band-aid and painted it back to colors it had in the 1950s.  They cleared the bushes around the drive-up area.

    Here are photos from the day...

We ran into our friend Steve Berry (we told him to come down).  He got this nice "high angle" shot. 😀

Steve and Cindy

And we made the March issue of Iowa Living in the Ribbon Cutting section...

Enjoying the rays...

We made Channel 5 😄

This 1941 DeSoto belongs to a gentleman named Dave.  We first met him at the Valley Church show last July.  He's involved with the Des Moines Concours d'Elegance.

Beautiful 1954 Merc

A member of the Charity Cruisers (John) and his 1961 Pontiac Tempest.  Was a 4-door.

This guy had a very straight 1964 Impala...he bought new!  Sold in the '70s and found it again in the '90s.

Here are some images I got from The Business Record and from the Val Air Ballroom Facebook page...

We made the aerial shots!

Back in the barn.