On Saturday March 20th, the 2010 Spring Festival of LX successfully celebrated its largest turn-out to date since its official inception 5 years ago, tallying about 600 people and 594 cars. When compared to other national car shows, the numbers may not seem outrageous, but when you consider the fact that the platform the event is centered around has only been in existence for 5 years, the head [gasket] count becomes staggering. A long way from its humble beginnings in the vacant lot behind a SoCal strip mall, Spring Fest has become a massive movement within the LX community that even Spring Fest founder John Fortuno aka FatChance (@1fatchance), himself is amazed by. “That’s one thing you can say about this community,” FatChance remarked, “It doesn’t matter what they do [or] what they drive, they are hardcore.”
FatChance went on to credit this year’s sizable crowd to the entirely grassroots movement behind Spring Fest’s promotion. By relying entirely on word-of-mouth, Spring Fest is able to generate an enthusiasm that is sometimes lost by the bigger, more traditional car shows. As a matter of fact, FatChance is certain that if Spring Fest were anything other than a homegrown operation, it’d lose steam quickly. With the more formal events, it becomes more about showmanship and less about camaraderie – which is exactly what FatChance and the LX community as a whole hope to avoid. “If I tell the owners ‘Oh we’re having a car show’ I guarantee you this thing would crumble down to zero because these folks – they don’t care about that. They just want to go out and see what’s going on…and mingle with [a] community of proud owners.”
Amongst those proud owners were Anthony Carter, Pedro Murillo, and Travis Copenhaver, who we (and hopefully you) were following all throughout the event. Hailing from various parts of the beautiful U.S., the trio of LX fans mirrored FatChance’s enthusiasm for Spring Fest. Tweeted Murillo, “So many cars, so many mods, so many people & a ton of Chrysler/Dodge reps. SF2010 knocked it out of the park. If your not here… ” In case you missed their exclusive coverage of SF5, you can still check out their entertaining tweets by following @1sikmag (Copenhaver), @ezcorpion (Murillo), and @LXandBeyondNats (Carter).
On the whole, this year’s Spring Fest was more than successful in achieving FatChance’s objective of bringing a far-flung “family” together, as evidenced by the striking photos we were able to snap. Hit the jump to check out what you missed, and if you’re the proud owner of a Chrysler 300C, Dodge Magnum, Dodge Charger, or Dodge Challenger, be sure to mark Spring Fest 6 on your calendar next year so you can witness all of the deafening engine mods and dazzling custom paint jobs firsthand.
For more photos, check out Dodge Autos’ official Spring Fest 5 Flickr feed.
Dallas Fort Worth LX Club President and 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 owner Pedro Murillo is such a loyal Mopar fan, he’s even got his girlfriend, Crystal Turk, and her 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 in on the LX action this year. “[She] has always supported me with my car hobbies… She loves the car scene and is as excited to make it out to Spring Fest #5.” After spending countless hours connecting with other forum members, Pedro is ecstatic about the chance to show off his hard work in person. “[Spring Fest] gives me a chance to show off the car i have built to other MOPAR lovers that can appreciate the hard work put into the beast.” Added Pedro, “It also another reason for me to purchase more modifications without feeling guilty about it.”