Published: June 11, 2009 08:40 pm      

Hot Rod Power Tour roars into Somerset

Somerset — Local officials set out to impress the thousands of visitors who descended upon Somerset yesterday for the 15th annual Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour.

“We have all worked hard at putting our best foot forward for this event,” said Somerset-Pulaski Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Carolyn Mounce.

“Any time we can showcase our area, it’s a win-win situation.”

Apparently their efforts were successful.

Mounce said she had received plenty of positive feedback from Power Tour-goers who had wandered past her booth located inside The Center for Rural Development yesterday.

“They’re very impressed with our facilities,” she said.

“The guy from Hot Rod Magazine said this was the neatest venue they’d been at. ... Even when it rained hard, people came inside, and they were so glad that there was something other than hot dogs to eat and a place to sit down.”

The Power Tour brought some 3,000 hot rods and performance vehicles to the parking lot of The Center — and to surrounding parking lots at Somerset Community College, the Alton Blakely dealership, and more — as part of a seven-stop, eight-day tour across the country.

The rumbling caravan had come to Somerset from Dayton, Ohio. Today, drivers will depart for the tour’s final stop, Bristol, Tenn.

Mounce said she had been asked by Hot Rod officials to work on making sure the Power Tour could pass through Somerset again in the future.

She plans on doing just that.

In the meantime, Mounce was busy passing out tourism information for the entire Lake Cumberland area during yesterday’s event.

“I’ve talked to people from Canada, Oklahoma, Illinois, Wisconsin and Georgia — off the top of my head,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get some of these people back to our area.”