The first (annual) vintage rally at Mystic Springs Airstream Park near Pensacola Florida wrapped up on Sunday, April 21, 2002. The vintage rally was combined with the Pensacola WBCCI rally and included a number of visitors from Mississippi. Seven outstanding vintage units were present for the rally. Vintage units participating in the Open House included a 58 Custom, a 63 Globetrotter, 2 Tradewinds and 2 Overlanders. Over 115 people attended the 4 day rally which made it one of the larger rallies in recent years at Mystic Springs Airstream Park.

The Vintage Open House proved to be an outstanding success both for the ones showing off their handiwork and for the other Airstreamers who enjoyed seeing the features of the older Silver Bullets and the innovations added by the restorers. Sandy and Rona Cameron who are originally from Scotland/England took first place in the people's choice judging. Second place went to David Mary Turner (Americus,GA) for their unique 1958 21 foot Custom and third place was awarded to Jim & Mary Smith (Tampa, FL) for their 65 Tradewind that is a showplace for Jim's woodworking expertise. Winners were given a plaque and a Hot Wheels Vintage Airstream. Other participants in the vintage rally included Marjorie Johnson ( Lillian,AL), Herb Sidra Spies(Shalimar,FL) and Bill Elizabeth Duncan (Stone Mtn, GA).

The rally began on Thursday at Mystic Springs on the moss covered banks of the Escambia River. The weather cooperated and supplied warm sun filled days for the entire rally. After the Vintage Open House on Saturday, rally participants attended a polishing and rivet shaving demo given by Herb Spies. This was followed by a Spaghetti dinner in the large Mystic Springs clubhouse. Then the Cold Creek Bluegrass Band provided the evening entertainment. Rally participants then enjoyed story swapping around the campfire and games inside the clubhouse. Sunday, we broke camp after the potluck dinner.

All in all, it was an enjoyable first Vintage Rally and we have already entered discussions to plan a second Mystic Springs Vintage Rally next year, hopefully with even more vintage attendees. So all those who didn't attend, plan for the rally next year. You won't want to miss this Deep South Vintage Rally.

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