Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Paiute Travel Plaza will be hosting a festival celebration this weekend which will be of special interest to collectible car afficionadoes throughout the region. The event which is being called Cars, Stars and Guitars will be the home of the legendary Mike Privette’s Annual Motorhead Festival. It will be taking place at the Plaza on Sunday, September 4.
The Motorhead Festival is in its 20th year as a major regional car show. Las Vegas resident and car hobbyist Mike Privette started the event back in 1996 as something fun for him to do with his young sons.
“My sons were 12 and 14 back then,” Privette said in an interview last week. “We liked to spend time with cars and turning wrenches in the garage. And we were looking for car shows to go to and weren’t finding them. So we decide to organize one ourselves.”
In its early years, the event was held at Sunset Park in Las Vegas. Later it moved to Mt. Charleston where attendance grew. But it started small.
“The first year there were only 16 cars there and six of them were mine,” Privette said. “By last year we had grown it to 330 cars. We couldn’t put any more cars in there!”
And that is the reason for moving to the Plaza this year. The festival had outgrown its mountain venue and traffic to the event had become a problem.
Privette said he is not sure what to expect on his first year at the new venue. But the preregistration period has gone well thus far. Well over 100 cars have registered in advance for the event.
“Usually we will at least double that on the day of the show,” he said. “So it should be a good event this year.”
Holding the car show at the Paiute Plaza brings other benefits as well. With one of the largest fireworks stores in the southwest, along with food vendors and other attractions, it will be a great place to be.
In addition to the great display of hot rods, trucks, bikes, boats and other exotics there will be a free fireworks show and a music festival. Performing at the event will be country classic bands Restless Heart and Little Texas.
“It should be a great show,” Privette said. “In a lot of ways it will be a lot like walking through the history of wheels.”
The days events are free of admission costs. But parking for the event is $20 per vehicle.
