Jarvis had been wanting to do Hot August Nights for years. It's Reno's biggest festival of the year. In fact, Hot August Nights is the biggest classic car event in the world! We even tried selling chicken wings again and had Luci Von Rose work the stand as an eye catching attraction. (She's the pin-up girl we met at Reno Rockabilly Riot a couple months ago.)
Alas, turn out this year was quite low and weather was a problem - again. It was fun at least to participate in such a big city-wide event. In future years we'll look into doing it again, but maybe at a different venue. Oh, and Colleene has put her foot down on chicken wings. From now on we will only offer wings at wing festivals; that is, cook-offs and food festivals that specifically feature chicken wings, where we know they will be a success. Aside from those exceptions, we will never, no not ever, never attempt to use a deep fryer again. Kudos to vendors who offer fried foods. For us at Tropic Hut, a deep fryer is WAY too much mess and too much hassle.
Here's a video right after a severe thunderstorm blew through the area. The storm sent everyone running for shelter,
while we vendors held on to our stands for dear life. Then, as fast as it blew in, the storm blew on past,
and everything was strangely calm. And it turned cold ... during Hot August Nights.
Jarvis hired pin-up girl Luci Von Rose to be Tropic Hut's order taker and eye catching attraction.
Right from the first day, Luci showed her worth by posing for photos with our mascot macaw.
Does she know how to work it for the camera or what?
Oh, if this is your first time to see our colorful macaw, the answer to your question is no, he's not real. He looks realistic enough that many people, especially children, are drawn to the stand just for a closer look. His name is Tiberius. Jarvis thought such a boldly beautiful bird should have an equally magnificent name.
Here's what Hot August Nights is all about - classic cars!
I recently learned this style of car is called a "t-bucket." There is even a club just for owners and enthusiasts of these fun looking vehicles. Of course, it's a little improper for a t-bucket like this to be at a classic car event. This is a kit car; not ever manufactured by a car company and not old enough to be considered a classic. But what the heck, it's a fun car and we're glad to have it at Hot August Nights.
Another kit car, but I'm not sure what this style is called.
Okay, now we're getting to the true classic cars! The Pontiac GTO is one of America's iconic muscle cars.
Did you know there was such a thing as a GTO station wagon? I'd never seen one of these.
This was the car for the family man who wanted to drive his kids to school really fast.
These are just a tiny fraction of all the classic cars we see in Reno every August.
That's the Atlantis Hotel tower in the background.
The whole point of having a classic car is to have people look at it, right? Hot August Nights organizers know this, and many reviewing stands and cruise zones like this one are set up all over the city during the event.
Doggone it, what a great looking stand and great looking staff Tropic Hut has!
The Hot August Nights crew: Cole, Luci, Colleene and Le.
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Last day of the event - might as well snap one more photo of the always-ready-to-pose Luci.
This is the fryer area we set up next to the stand. Offering fried foods was a fun experiment, but Colleene and Jarvis will be perfectly happy never to see this greasy mess again! We sold the fryer and all equipment associated with it.
