The summer festival season ramps up this weekend with annual Shades of the Past car show and the Russell Bandwagon Days

The Shades of the Past club will be celebrating its 40th anniversary starting with the Friday night cruise starting at 6:30 p.m. As always, vehicles of all kinds will line up behind Runnings and follow a route on Marshall streets.

The car show will be held Saturday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., also behind Runnings. Cash prizes totaling $4,000 will be given out to participants, even if they don’t win any awards.

“That way people who don’t have the oldest or most expensive car still have the opportunity to win something,” said Raymond Louwagie, the president of Shades of the Past.

After the show, trophies will be awarded by Shades of the Past to the top vehicle in each of the seven classes. That includes 2000 and newer, classic cars up to 1999, trucks, rat rods, tractors, and motorcycles. There is a feature class this year for cars from the 1950s.

The event will conclude with the Minnesota Street Rod Association hosting its car of the year voting event. Members of the MSRA will vote for cars in the street rod, custom, and classic categories.

The show will offer food and beverage vendors and music.

In Russell, Bandwagon Days includes activities for both children and adults. Activities will start Friday at 9 a.m. and will continue until 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The three-day event will offer a variety of events and competitions for groups of all ages including a golf scramble, a free admission ranch rodeo, a kickball tournament, a tractor pull, a hog roast, a kids fishing tournament, a car show and cow bingo, where squares are selected based on where a cow poops on the ground.

On Saturday night, southwest Minnesota music artist Blake Schmitz will be performing for the show. He will be playing his original songs, some of which have over 1 million listeners on Spotify.

Also, the Russell Bar & Grill and multiple food trucks will be serving food and drinks all weekend. A designated driver bus will be available on Friday and Saturday evenings, traveling anywhere in the 15-mile radius of Russell.

For those who want to participate in the kickball tournament at the City Ball Field on Saturday at 9 a.m., they can call (507) 530-0115 to sign up.