More than 250 Model Ts will be in Bemidji today

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

July 21, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

For a few hours today, the waterfront will be magically whisked back in time to when automobiles were relatively new and the Model T was king.

More than 250 Model Ts will be cruising Bemidji today when the International Model T Club makes its rounds of primarily the waterfront, but also other Bemidji sites.

The owners of the cars, who are participating in the 43rd Annual Model T Club International Tour, are in their third day of exploring Minnesota's Northwoods and offer area residents a chance to inspect some of the first advancements in automobiles.

The concept of the Model T tour is for the club to annually pick a community where they will spend about a week touring in their cars an opportunity to see the impromptu vintage car show.

According to club member Mark Fleischhacker of Minnetonka, the club's tour is centered in Park Rapids this year, and Bemidji is only one of many communities on their schedule.

On Monday, club members toured the tree nursery at the Badoura State Forest and visited the communities of Hackensack, Akeley and Walker.

Today, the club members will tour through Lake George and arrive at Bemidji's waterfront about 10:30 a.m. This will give the club members a chance to photograph the famous Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues, and it will give area residents a chance to see the 250 Model Ts -- ranging from 1909 to 1927 makes.

On Thursday and Friday, the club will visit Itasca State Park, Menahga and Dorset.

"Every day we drive on a different route to show (club members) cities in the area," said Fleischhacker, a15-year club member. "We encourage people to come out and see them. We're club that believes these cars should be out in the public eye. We don't just restore them and put them on display."

This year's tour, which was awarded to Park Rapids in a bid process, is not ordinary, Fleischhacker said. Generally, the club schedules its tours near bigger cities. Last year it was held near Traverse City, Mich., and next year it will be held in West Virginia.

"This is one of the few times that a small town has hosted the tour," he said.

In return for the area's hospitality in hosting the tour, the Model T Club will host a street party from 7-9 p.m. Thursday in Park Rapids. Three streets will be barricaded so that the Model Ts may be displayed downtown, and there will also be a live Dixieland band and a barbershop quartet performing.

"We're going to have one big party that's open to everybody," Fleischhacker said. "It's our way to thank everybody. We don't have the words to describe the hospitality we've received."

Fleischhacker said there are cars from more than 35 states in this year's tour, with some coming from as far as Sacramento, Calif., and Tacoma, Wash.

The International Model T Club has headquarters in Chicago, and has international chapters in Canada, Sweden, Australia and Ireland.