Cars and people alike dotted Main Street for the event, where the heat index at one point was 104 degrees.
Hundreds of people were drawn downtown on the afternoon of June 22 for the Mullica Hill Business Association’s (MHBA) Celebration on Main.
According to event organizer George Murphy, the event offered a variety of spectacles up and down the street that went on despite intense heat, including a beer garden, food trucks, music, a kids’ bounce house and face painting. The main feature of the day was a car show with 75 vehicles.
“It’s an updated version of the Mullica Hill car show that had been going on for the past six years,” he said. “We tried to create a Main Street event with a car show as the backdrop. We branded it and tried to make it our own.”
Th show vehicles included muscle cars; vintage trucks; and sports cars, among others. Awards were presented to the owners of vehicles that stood out among the rest, determined by attendees with about 500 voting cards. The awards were handed out by Mayor Louis Manzo and Deputy Mayor Lawrence Moore.
Harrison Township, according to Murphy, worked closely with Mullica Hill on the celebration since the latter was scheduled in close proximity to Harrison Township Day earlier in June.
“(Mayor) Manzo was aware that they took business away from Main Street due to Harrison Township Day,” Murphy noted. “So he came together with us (the MHBA) to give it a try in the summer.”
Though the heat did not affect the turnout for the celebration, it did mean fewer cars and vendors.
“The heat led to cancellations as the heat index was 104 degrees at the time of the awards and it was the only negative,” Murphy reported. “It led to less cars showing up than we thought, and we ended up having four food vendors back out.
“Overall, though,” he added, “we had a really positive reaction to it. For our first event of the summer and after all the graduations, when people start to go on vacation, it went really well.”
The Celebration on Main was sponsored by Magic Roofing and Siding of Mullica Hill; J&J Mechanical Inc.; and Spirit Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram of Swedesboro.
