BMW Z Roadster owners visited downtown for lunch today as part of the 2012 ZFest, which annually meets over the Labor Day holiday. This group was having lunch at the Mason Jar.
What do you get a Beamer owner who has everything? A matching color trailer.
This Porsche slipped into town at the most unlikeliest time on Trade Street drawing some stares and comments. Actually the owner was picking up his father at a downtown store.
Goats were grazing on Trade Street and yes that was Hollywild Animal Park's plan to market its petting zoo to the ZFest visitors. It was successful in that the car owners were talking about the exhibits and animals.
Perry Williams introduced a new parking configuration to the visitors that gave Trade Street more vehicles parked than it previously had before. Ironically, the diagonal parking was also discussed by city council as an alternative to the current parallel parking. Perry and his wife, Erin, are BMW Roadster owners.
“The parking is much better and I like the way Trade Street was marked off for us,” David Weeks, president of the 2012 ZFest said. “I like the shops and great selection of restaurants Greer has.” Weeks is also president of the Z Series Car Club of America (ZSCCA).
Weeks said there were about 30 percent less people attending because of Hurricane Isaac that hit Louisiana and traveled up to the Midwest and some from Texas that were committed to the Texas-Mexico drive.
“I have to say this (ZFest) was better than last year, even though we had less numbers,” Weeks said.
Reno Deaton, President of Greer Development Corporation, was on hand to mark off Trade Street and his staff monitored the entrance at Poinsett Street and exit at School Street.
Rhythm and Brews and other merchants displayed ZFest signage and additional staff was brought in during the lunch hour.
The license plates showed visitors from at least 13 states and one other country – South Carolina and North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania and Canada.
“You can’t ask for anything better than this,” Deaton said. “They can go anywhere and they came to Greer today.”
One owner came up to Deaton to tell him a joke on his way back to the BMW Manufacturing Co., where these were the first cars were birthed in Greer.
“Do you know why chicken coops have two doors?“
"Because if they were a sedan it would be four doors!”
And with that, most of the drivers went on their way smiling and waving.