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New Photo Gallery for 2011

Bug-A-Palooza 8

We’ll folks, Bug-A-Palooza 8, August 28, 2011, is just upon us.
Bug-A-Palooza is Harsh Winters VW Club’s annual Volkswagen auto show hosted in Joliet, Illinois at D’Arcy Volkswagen 2521 West Jefferson Street, Joliet, IL 60435. With over 100 vehicles attending, numerous swap participants and activities for the whole family it has become the premier show in the northern Illinois VW community. All Volkswagens are welcome to the show. Participants will receive dash plaques and goody bags on a first come first serve basis.

Registration: 9am – 12pm, Awards 3pm
Fee: Registration $15/Vehicle, $15/Swap Space 10′x20′, Spectators Free
Free Show T-Shirt for the first 100 Registrants!
Proceeds from the event are donated to GiGi’s Playhouse Down Syndrome Awareness Centers.
Looking forward to see everyone out there.

1965 VW Beetle – This could be yours!

Thank you for all your support!!!

All the tickets for the Raffle Bug have been sold.
BAP 8 IS AUGUST 28, 2011
Please come joins us at BAP 8 to see the winner of the Raffle Bug.

Harsh Winters Volkswagen Club is holding a raffle for a rebuilt 1965 Sea Blau Volkswagen Beetle with all proceeds benefiting GiGi’s Playhouse Fox Valley, a Down syndrome awareness center. The winner of the Give Away will be announced on August 28, 2011 at Bug-A-Palooza 8 to be held at D’Arcy Volkswagen in Joliet, IL. Keep checking back for updates on the restoration progress and be sure to get your tickets for this great cause before time is up. A special thanks to all of the club members for their countless hours of work and companies who have donated parts.
You do not have to be present to win.

Happy 4th of July everyone!  Remember this is the holiday with the most auto accidents.  Be sure to keep a watchful eye on the road so we see you all at the next event.  Have a fun and SAFE weekend.

There were about 15 folks that showed up, most with VW’s.  I’d like to thank everyone who made it out and I look forward to seeing more and more of you make it as the summer season progresses.  I also must say that the Doggie Diner has some GREAT food and service.  I had to fight off the wind from taking my fries away from me… they were that good. 

So… great night and I can’t wait to do it again April 15th…

With a successful Cruise Night in the books, it’s time to turn our attention to our first show of the year:  Spring Jump Start 2010.  It will be held and hosted by JC Whitney at their LaSalle, IL retail store location.  They are offering a 20% discount to all that attend and they always have a great selection of deals to be had.  JC Whitney has been very good to us over the past year.  They have just recently donated some parts to our “Raffle Bug” project and we are forever grateful to them (and Toby Ristau) for their generosity.  My favorite part of working with JC Whitney, is that they are not new to the car show scene.  They have been hosting large car shows for years and know what it takes to be successful.  That kind of track record makes it VERY easy for us to simply show up and have a good time.

I am really looking forward to hanging out with our members and all VW enthusiasts that can make the trip out to SJS 2010.  I especially appreciate those that travel the furthest (yes… I’m talking about members of The GoodVolks VW Club and the Circle City VW Club).  I’m sure there are others that may make the trip that travel from far away, but let’s face it… if you didn’t like to drive your VW, you wouldn’t be in this hobby anyway.  They are meant to be driven!

Stay tuned for more…

Don’t you worry… the club is in good hands because we have a committee that rocks the VW knowledge quota.  We have so much fun as a group that we decided to create another reason to get together and hang out.  The cool thing is that anyone reading this can benefit from it.  You don’t have to be a club member… you don’t even have to own a VW.

Starting in April we will be hosting our first “Harsh Winters Cruise Night” which is slated to take place the 1st and 3rd Thursday night of every month at the Doggy Diner (the old Swonys) on Hill Ave in Aurora.  Check out the menu here and here.

I find it very humorous that our first HWVC Cruise Night will be held on April Fools’ Day.  Considering our group of club members, it’s actually quite fitting! 

We are really excited to be able to schedule an event that happens often and requires nothing from anyone.  If you’re able… show up, get some grub and talk some dubbish (or some rubbish if you prefer).  This should also allow non-members to get to know us in a casual setting and allow non-dubbers the opportunity to get educated as to why we love the VW community and hobby.  I’m sure we’ll even make you laugh a little due to some of our more colorful members.  *cough* BigJoe *cough*

On a side note, I’ll have my bus out for the April 1st cruise night and I’m pretty excited.  This will be my first official event of any kind to which I will (attempt to) drive my bus.  If I’m not there, then you can pick one of 20 reasons for my absence… which could be fodder for an April blog. 

Please mark your calendars, dust off the dub and come on out to our first official Cruise Night on April 1st, 2010.  Folks will start showing up around 5pm and stay as long as you like.  I look forward to meeting you and talking some dubbish.

If you are a baseball fan, then you are excited that pitchers and catchers have reported for spring training.  If you are a fan of the Olympics, then you are zoned in on watching the USA collect some gold and probably find yourself checking the medal count (which at the time of writing this blog, we were winning ).  If you are an NFL fan then you are starting to catch up on all the latest mock drafts.  Hockey and basketball are in full motion and “March Madness” is just around the corner.

However, if you are a VW fan (if you are reading this, then chances are that you have DUB in your blood) then you are probably itching to get your dub out of storage or maybe, like me, frantically trying to get your project road worthy.  I take a great deal of solace in knowing that my fellow VW nuts are just a call away and that I can always scratch that itch every month at our member meetings. 

One thing you can bank on is that our club is planning a number of summer events. 

Starting in April we will be hosting a our first “Harsh Winters Cruise Night” which is slated to take place the 1st and 3rd Thursday night of every month at the Doggy Diner (the old Swonys) on Hill Ave in Aurora.  Plan to see club members there after 5pm til whenever.  (I’ll write up a separate blog on this later).

Next on the agenda for the summer is our annual Spring Jump Start.   This event will be hosted by JC Whitney at their retail location in La Salle, IL on May 1st.  We are looking forward to seeing everyone come out, dust off their VW’s and take advantage of some great goodie bags and door prizes…along with the JC Whitney 20% discount on all items purchased that day at their store.  We had a blast last year and it’s FREE… so come on out and join in on some sun and VW fun!  Also be aware that JC Whitney has their spring show the very next day and they have added an award for the VW class.  Yay us! 

There are many other events that we are planning and I will continue to post up information as we solidify our plans.  Please don’t hesitate to sign up on our FREE forums.  We are an extremely active online community with lots of VW knowledge.  Also feel free to come out to our monthly member meetings if you want to get to know us better and find out more about who/what we are all about! 

Stay tuned!

We have decided to start the forum off on a clean slate, therefore you will need to re-register with the new forum even if you had an account on the old forum. If you are a paid member be sure to PM BIG JOE on the new forum so that he can reinstate your Members Only access.

The old forum will remain available in a read-only format for some time after it’s closure at the following link http://harshwintersvw.com/smf1/. Please be sure to migrate to the new forum though, as in approximately 1-2 weeks posting will be disabled in the old forum.

We hope you enjoy the new forum.  The new software should provide a safer, more reliable, more featured experience.  If you experience any problems feel free to contact me: joseph.hauge@gmail.com

Note: As I have been getting alot of queries… a new Gallery will be available soon.