30th Annual Moonlight Memories Car Show

Historically, the town of Hatboro was once considered one of the most well-known cruising towns east of the Mississippi in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s and it was even highlighted in Hot Rod magazine. Young people from everywhere in the Delaware Valley would routinely drive down York Road at slow speeds, doing their best to show off their cars, meet new friends and perhaps street race when the time was right. At times, the Borough Council and the Police were often not too happy with the nightly parade of cars going nowhere and there was a profound generational tension between the town elders and their Cruisin’ kids.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending how you saw it, economic market forces were to play a part in slowing down the cruisers. In fact, the gas crisis of the late seventies, hastened the end of “cruising the Boro” for most of the young car enthusiasts. This was the abrupt end of one of America’s favorite past times in Hatboro, but it would not be the end of our love of cars. Less than 15 years later, the business leaders of Hatboro took matters in their own hands.

It was in the spring of 1993, when Bill Clinton was President, the blockbuster, Jurassic Park and the never ending, Groundhog Day were in the theaters, Beanie babies went on sale and the Dow Jones Industrial average eclipsed 3500 pts; three of Hatboro’s visionaries, Joe Tryon, Harry Reiter and Kenny Bishop of the Hatboro Chamber of Commerce came up with a crazy idea to bring the hot rods back to Hatboro. It was to be named, Moonlight Memories, however, most people refer to it by the common name of the Hatboro Car Show.

It became an instant hit with the car owners and the crowds from the very first show in 1993 to the present. Since that time, the Moonlight Memories Car Show typically attracts 400-500 specialty autos, muscle cars and trucks, as well as 35,000 to 50,000 spectators and dozens of vendors. This year, there will be live music and Hatboro restaurants and street food eateries will offer a tempting variety of summer refreshments. Delaware Valley’s WRDV public radio station will host a live broadcast of nostalgic tunes from the era.

The annual Moonlight Memories Car Show has been shining a spotlight on the historic and dynamic community of Hatboro for three decades. “Our sponsors welcome this yearly opportunity to support the local businesses, as well as civic and non-profit area organizations.” Hatboro Chamber President Tim Schultz says, “We’ve organized a fun event for visitors of all ages with this trip down memory lane. In addition to the classic cars and trucks on display, we invite everyone to visit our restaurants, shops, service businesses and other stores.”

This year’s event sponsors are Hatboro Federal Savings, Patriot Chevrolet, O’Neil Buick/GMC, O’Neil Collision Center, Tilghman Builders, Split Lane Cycles, Glanzmann Subaru, Jaguar Land Rover of Willow Grove, Little’s of Hatboro John Deere, Reid’s Repairs LLC, Donte’s Automotive, JP Performance & Repair, Diverse Technical Lines, Inc. (DTL), Amy’s Pizzeria, Delaware Valley Concrete Company, and the Uptight Suburbanite.

Award Presentation is scheduled at 9:15  PM at the corner of Moreland and York Roads in the Parking Lot of Reid’s Repairs LLC.