SAUK RAPIDS -- For car enthusiasts, the third Sunday in August is usually reserved for the Pantowners annual Car Show and Swap Meet at the Benton County Fairgrounds in Sauk Rapids, however, this year's event has been canceled due to COVID-19.

Club President Dennis Arntson says they had to make the decision to cancel a few months ago.

We've got to rent this place (Benton County Fairgrounds), so we've got contracts to sign, we've got to get law enforcement involved, a lot of vendors to deal with, so a lot of things we have to decide by early June if not sooner, t-shirts, calendar orders, those types of things.

The car show is their biggest fundraiser of the year and typically draws over 600 cars along with thousands of spectators.

But, Arntson says their Saturday night fun run will be held.

I suspect this year we might get 120 cars.  We'll start a block west of Mills Fleet Farm by the new roundabout.  It's a long run through the countryside, and we're going to end up at Molitor's Bar and Grill.

Arntson says it is a free roughly 50-mile cruise. Cars will start lining-up around 5:00 p.m. and the cruise will start at 6:00 p.m.

He says the St. Cloud Antique Auto Club has canceled their monthly meetings over the past few months and instead have been doing car runs on the second Thursday of each month.

The St. Cloud Antique Auto Club has been around since 1971 and they have about 400 to 500 members.

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