Father’s Day Car Show returns to Downtown Boise, a gift from a son to his dad

Dale Krick Sr. bought his first car — a 1938 Pontiac coupe — as a teenager off a used car lot near Allentown, Penn., where he grew up. He paid a hard-earned $100 for it in 1953.

“I doctored it up so that it looked like a real hot rod,” Krick Sr. says. “I had that old thing looking mean, but it was a really quiet car.”

He tuned up the engine, painted it black, attached fender skirts and painted the tires to make faux whitewalls.

“The guys thought it was pretty great. It had a rumble seat — everybody liked that,” Krick says.

That’s when cars became a passion for Krick Sr. Over his lifetime he’s restored more cars than he can remember. It’s a love he passed on to his sons Dale Jr. and Dave, who owns Bittercreek Alehouse and The Red Feather Lounge in Downtown Boise.

The Krick family moved to Boise in 1978 when Krick Sr. retired from the Air Force. The family had lived here for a few years during his service at Mountain Home Air Force Base and returned because of Idaho’s blue sky, he says. He then worked for Hewlett-Packard Co., in human resources for another 20 years.

When Krick Sr. retired the second time in 1998, he helped his sons open Bittercreek. It opened in 1996 with Dale Jr. as chef and Dave was the general manager. That was the beginning of the Krick restaurant dynasty. Dave Krick got involved in developing other restaurants such as Bardenay, Reef, The Falcon Tavern, where Dale Jr. again was chef, and The Front Door in Downtown but has since sold his interests in those establishments. Dave Krick opened The Red Feather Lounge in 2002.

The car show fires up

The family also got involved in helping boost Downtown’s culture. Krick Sr. wanted to share his passion for cars with the community, so he created an annual Downtown Father’s Day Car Show in 2000.

For many years, it was a staple for car lovers that drew thousands to ooh and aah over shiny, sleek and saucy restored classics on Downtown Boise streets.

A few years later, Krick Sr. passed the running of it on to the Downtown Boise Association. RPM Productions picked it up in about 2008. In 2015, RPM moved its Motorfest event, held at Expo Idaho, from July to June and made the Downtown Car Show part of that event. Motorfest is now being presented by Mayhem Productions.

But now the Downtown show is back, thanks to the Kricks, the Downtown Boise Association, Radio Boise and Capital City Development Corp.

From 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, June 18, you can head to the area around 8th and Idaho streets for a free car show-’n’-shine that includes classic cars, live music on the Radio Boise stage and more.

“It’s really a gift to my father. Since my earliest memories as a kid, my dad has been into collecting cars,” Dave Krick says. “He got me into them, and we would work on them together. My first cars my dad helped me take apart. He gave me the courage to take things apart that weren’t really broken and put them back together to make them better. It was a great metaphor for life. Since then, I’ve taken apart every idea and rethought it because of the lack of fear he instilled in me.”

Down the road

Dave Krick is taking the idea of a classic car show and changing it up by adding a focus on the future.

“Finding a way to make this show relevant today was what made it more worthwhile,” Krick says.

On 8th Street between Idaho and Main streets, you’ll find a display area for all-electric and hybrid vehicles, information about how to build an infrastructure for the future, and ways to drive less — which is good for the air and Downtown congestion, says Max Clark, CCDC’s parking and facilities director.

“I’ve spent the first 12 years of my career trying to lure any vehicle to Downtown,” he says. “Now I have a wait list of 1,600 for garage parking. It’s time for a different approach.”

Building more parking garages is not a sustainable future.

“It’s wrong to try and outbuild the growth,” Clark says. “We need to battle the single-occupant vehicle.”

Through “carrots and sticks,” CCDC and the city are encouraging people to invest in a different idea about how to get around the city, Clark says.

Carrot: People with zero emission vehicles — all-electric cars — can park for free on Downtown streets through Boise’s Zero Emission Parking Program. The city created more charging stations on streets and CCDC is putting them in their garages.

Stick: The number of Downtown parking spaces won’t be increasing anytime soon.

At Sunday’s car show, you’ll also find info on shared mobility options, such as commuter vans and public transportation.

A day for gear heads

The show’s return has local car guys like Terry Reynolds jazzed.

“I’m going to have two cars,” he says. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

He’s bringing his award-winning, rare ocean-mist green 1954 Buick Skylark and his award-winning 1968 Shelby Mustang GT500 KR.

This marks Reynolds’ sixth year in this show that has special memories for him.

“For that first show, I had my dad’s 1937 Buick business coupe. My oldest son and grandson were there from Las Vegas,” he says. “It was four generations of our family.”

Mixing classic cars and new alternatives also is what got the DBA interested, says DBA Executive Director Lynn Hightower.

“The future of transportation in the Treasure Valley will start with Downtown,” Hightower says. “We need to be on the leading edge, so when Dave suggested we bring it back with this new twist, I thought it was a great opportunity. It makes sense to incorporate the classics that everyone loves looking at with a look at where we are today and where we’re going in the future.”

The Kricks and the DBA would like to see this continue as an annual event that will celebrate classics and new technology side by side.

“For me, it’s the past meets the future,” Dave Krick says.

This story was originally published June 16, 2017 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Father’s Day Car Show returns to Downtown Boise, a gift from a son to his dad."