By LEE CARLSON
Carhenge is in an international calendar for 2022 about people who enjoy simple, everyday, run-of-the mill things, things others overlook. They celebrate the ordinary, sometimes turning ordinary into extraordinary. The title of the calendar is Quirky Passions.
Carhenge is on the cover of the calendar and is the topic for June. Its creator, Jim Reinders, chose June because summer solstice is June 21.
Sadly, Jim died October. He was 94. He left behind a legacy of what started out as a quirky idea became something remarkable. Jim turned ordinary, old cars, into extraordinary, a significant tourist attraction.
Jim grew up in Alliance. After graduating from UNL, he worked for an oilfield services company, first in America, then overseas. The last location was London. “It was the best assignment I had,” Jim said. “London is the greatest city in the world.” He was there from 1975 to 1981
The idea for Carhenge germinated in Jim’s mind when he showed visitors around England. They would often stop at Stonehenge. The similarities of the terrain there to Western Nebraska got Jim to thinking. “I could do something like Stonehenge in Nebraska,” Jim said. “But instead of large, heavy, awkward stones, it could be done with cars. Cars are lighter and have wheels. I could call it Carhenge.”
Jim’s father died in 1982. At the reception following the funeral, Jim mentioned his idea for Carhenge, by then an obsession, to his siblings and other family members. They loved it. It would be a memorial to their father as well as a fun thing to do as a team.
Jim drew up a map for 39 cars to be placed in the same position and aligned with the sun exactly like the 39 stones at Stonehenge.
In 1987, in time for summer solstice, the team headed to Nebraska from all parts of the country. They were driving and towing old cars for the project.
They built Carhenge in one week, considerably faster than Stonehenge, which is estimated to have taken 1,500 years to build.
Carhenge has become a popular tourist destination, over 100,000 visitors a year. Thousands headed there, including Governor Pete Rickets, for the 2017 eclipse of the sun. Carhenge was in the path of total darkness.
Another story from the middle of America in the calendar comes from Iowa: American Gothic, by Grant Wood, a painting that’s parodied endlessly. It has become one of America’s most iconic works of art.
It’s a blank slate. People manipulate the couple, what they are wearing, what they are holding, and the house to tell their own stores, often in a whimsical, comical way.
Two recent ones stem from COVID: one where the man and woman are socially distanced; in the other, they went in the house and watched out the window, leaving the pitchfork behind on the grass.
In addition to Carhenge and American Gothic, there are 11 more quirky passions in the calendar — more from America as well as ones from the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and China. To accommodate this baker’s dozen, the calendar includes January 2023.
The calendar also lists 150 events that celebrate the ordinary like the Duck Tape Festival in Avon Ohio, World Championship Cardboard Boat Races in Heber Springs Arkansas, and Kool-Aid Days in Hastings Nebraska.
The calendar is produced by Lee Carlson from Chappell. The full title is Dull Men’s Club Calendar 2022: Quirky Passions.
The DMC was formed by Lee and a few friends as a place to enjoy the simpler, quieter aspects of life, away from glitz and glam, being content with what we have instead of continually moving on to the next big thing. Although initially it was all men, women belong now as well. Like the Ironman Triathlon and other organizations that had been all male, the DMC has kept up with the times.
The calendar is available at the Alliance Times-Herald in Alliance, The Bard’s Den Books in Scottsbluff, Bookworm in Omaha, and Amazon. Now that 2022 is underway, the calendar’s price had been dropped from its original price of $15 down to $10.