On Saturday, October 23rd, 2010, the City of Rockledge and the Rockin’ Rodders, together with the Community Redevelopment Agency-Board of Commissioners hosted the 7th Annual “Hot Rockin’ Nights” Car Show on Barton Boulevard from 3:00-9:00pm. This show has become one of the local events that is anticipated by many of the car enthusiasts on the Space Coast. They had 165 registered show vehicles, and four Cruiser Of The Year vehicles present for the show. During the past seven years they have held four cruises and one major show every year - rain or shine.

The Rockin’ Rodders are a small group of 7 car enthusiasts that have been meeting every Tuesday for the past 11 years to work on their projects together. Most of the group are also members of the Dixie Cruisers Car Club out of Titusville, Florida. They were approached by the City of Rockledge to help promote these events in 2002, and realized after the first cruise that they had a venue that was accepted by both the community and the car owners. They had no idea that it would grow to its present size.

Without the support of Jim McKnight, the City Manager, Steve Wilson, the Assistant to the City Manager, Orville Susong, business owner of Custom Prints, Ron Krueger, Rockledge Police Chief, Dave Copp, of the Business Development Agency, and Rene LaMarr, the City Clerk (who has spent countless hours insuring that everything humanly possible was done to make these events run smoothly), this event would not take place.

They select one vehicle at each of the four cruises throughout the year to compete for the title of Cruiser Of The Year at the annual show held in October. The registered car owners vote for their choice of Cruiser Of The Year and the Top 30 show vehicles, with trophies presented to the winners.

Each year they offer a grand prize to the registered car owners, which is drawn from the tickets on each registration. Trying to be unique in the door prizes and grand prize categories, they purchase tools and automotive related items for this event from Harbor Freight in Melbourne, Florida. Their grand prize has been a tool chest and roll around cabinet given at their annual show for the past four years. This year’s grand prize was won by Matt Negri of Cocoa. Bennett Auto Supply of Cocoa contributed a laptop computer to the door prizes, and it was awarded to Doris Haurer of the Antique Auto Club of Cape Canaveral.

Hot Rockin’ Nights also had live music and DJ “Fast Eddie”, manufacturers midway, games for the kids, and food vendors. The 50/50 ticket sales also collected a total of $428, which was divided between the winning ticket holder and Rockledge High School’s Project Graduation.

Keep an eye on our Coming Attractions section as next year’s Hot Rockin’ Nights draws closer, and make your plans to attend. In the meantime, if you need more information you can contact Rene LaMarr at 321-690-3978 or E-Mail rlamarr@cityofrockledge.org. CN