FARMINGTON – The Country Classics Car Club has turned over operation of its successful annual car show to the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, club President Junior Turner said Tuesday.

The show is scheduled to open at 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Farmington Fair Grounds and is expected to be bigger and better this year with more family outdoor fun.

The club has hosted the show featuring hot rods and muscle cars for 19 years but it has gotten so big that it takes more than 25 people to put it on, Turner said.

There are 35 members in the club that was established 20 years ago, he said.

“We were glad to see them take it because they have the resources to make it bigger and better. Also, it is a very worthwhile thing for the community,” Turner said.

The decision to stop putting on the show was a difficult one.

“It was very hard for some of us because some of us still enjoy putting on the car show and just helping out and some of us are just getting plain tired,” Turner said. “We’re still a car club, and if anybody is interested in joining us, we’d love to have them.”

Car club members meet monthly. In the winter they meet downstairs at the Farmington Town Office and in the summer they meet at people’s houses where they have cookouts and games.

“People call us to be in parades, and area nursing homes call us to come and show our cars,” Turner said. “We’ve been asked to show cars during the Strawberry Festival in July in Farmington.”

Club members also tour Maine and visit other car collectors and conduct events for charity.

“We would like to thank all who have participated in our car shows and those who helped sponsor our car shows over the last 19 years,” Turner said.

The financial support has been greatly appreciated, he added.

“We’re going to job shadow with Franklin County Chamber of Commerce and we’re going to show them the ropes,” Turner said. “They’re going to expand this even more than we had.”

Chamber Executive Director Lorna Nichols has lots of new activities planned and the weekend will be connected to activities put on by the Stanley Museum – home of the Stanley Steamer – in Kingfield.

Museum representatives will be holding the events that include seminars, workshops and music from Tuesday, Aug. 19 to Sunday, Aug. 24, Nichols said.

They’ll be held around the county with many of them at the University of Maine at Farmington, including a consignment auction, she said.

During the car and motorcycle show there will be a pig scramble for youth followed by a Franklin County wife carrying competition, a preliminary to the annual competition at Sunday River.

Winners of the pig scramble will each receive a bicycle and helmet, donated by Farmington Wal-Mart and NorthStar Emergency Medical Services, respectively, Nichols said. The age categories are 5-8 and 9-12. It is limited to 15 children in each category.

The winners of the wife carrying contest will have their entry fee paid to the larger contest and be provided an overnight stay at Sunday River, Nichols said.

“It is promoting outdoor activities and it’s just something fun to do,” Nichols said.