WHEATLAND –  There were 152 vehicles and a crowd reported to be somewhere around a thousand people at the Inaugural Blue Mountain Car Show downtown Wheatland July 11.

The husband and wife duo of Tom Sheredy and Aley Philp who own PH Consulting and who have been in Wheatland for four years, had a dream to start up car shows again in Wheatland after several years of a hiatus from such events.

Philp who is from Thermopolis, Wy and Sheredy is from Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, had the vision for the Blue Mountain Car Show and Safety Fair and successfully took the project from a dream to a reality.

Sheredy said that it was actually Bob Ruwart from Bob Ruwart Motors who sponsored his Corvette to Bowling Green that put the bug in his ear about holding a car show in Wheatland. He also told Sheredy about the old car shows of old in Wheatland that had long gone by the wayside.

This year’s event came with some heavy hitters coming to Wheatland including The History Channel’s “Horny” Mike Henry & Ryan Evans from the show Counting Cars. 

The History Channel has been running the successful car show for a decade and both Henry and Evans have developed quite a following.

“We’re really happy to be here,” Evans said as he addressed the crowd before the awards ceremony.  “The cars and the turnout was fantastic. You guys have awesome cars. We were asked more than anything, ‘Why are you guys here for this little show?’ 

“Truth be told, we like the small-town car shows so much better than the big national shows. And the reason being, every single person here showed up with a car that that they know every nut and bolt on that car. They didn’t pay someone to build that car for them. They built it themselves in their house, their garage, they painted it themselves, or the local paint shop that’s painted every car here did it.”

He also emphasized that owner knowledge about the history and the step-by-step processes to labor over their investment was something that the celebs really appreciated.

“On top of that, you guys drive your vehicles,” Evans continued. “Some of the stories I got about them being multi-generational vehicles. It really is impressive to do that. And for us, in the city, being paid to build cars for other people, it really does make us appreciate what we do seeing that it’s still done the old-fashioned way. The way it’s supposed to be done. By families and car fanatics just like us.”

The couple said that they wanted to do a fun event for the whole community and show how awesome the town and county are and at the same time, showcase a lot of great cars. But not just cars. There were motorcycles, vans, specialty vehicles and trucks. 

The couple also wanted to provide community education as well and decided that vehicle safety and injury prevention was a perfect fit for the day. There was a car seat inspection station provided by The Wyoming Highway Patrol in the Thrifty Foods parking lot and there was also a distracted/impaired driving peddle car simulation course set up alongside safety education booths which will include the State Parks Staff providing lifejacket and water safety instruction and the Laramie County Shooting Association will have a booth for firearm safety.

An added surprise that materialized the day of the event was the welcoming home of veteran Thad Ehde who spent got home from overseas 17 days ago and spent two weeks in quarantine. He was not informed of the hero’s welcome that he would receive when he got back home to Platte County.

Once back to Wheatland, they had him ride in the ladder atop the Wheatland fire engine with his daughter and paraded him down to the center of town where he dismounted and was helped down off the firetruck by celebrity Henry outfitted complete with his signature bandana with the attached neon green horns. The parade was led by the VFW Legion Riders and the firetrucks were escorted by both the Wheatland Police and the Platte County Sheriff’s Department personnel in their vehicles.

Ehde, standing with his family waving to the crowd was taken back by the surprise and as he turned, the crowd could see an added surprise as he yelled out, “Oh mom!” not knowing his parents would be there to greet him also.

He addressed the crowd as he called out, “What a welcoming. I was not expecting this, so thank you.”

After he got off the truck and received the welcome, Mayor Brandon Graves who coordinated the welcome home greeted him and directed him to those who wanted pictures.