Dealer Special – The Rydell Car & Bike Show Brings Together Cool Cars, Community Spirit, and Charitable Donations
There’s something special about a community car show. They’re usually intimate, close-knit gatherings that celebrate the shared ties of a city and bring participants and residents together for a few hours of shared experience. The best examples provide a relaxed environment where stories are shared, friends can connect, and good causes can be served.
The annual Rydell Car & Bike Show at Rydell Chevrolet in Grand Forks, North Dakota, is a great example of this type of show. As the show organizers like to say, it’s a time for the dealership family to connect with enthusiasts and their families to do something good for the community. The show welcomes vehicles and attendees of all ages. “If your car, truck, SUV, bike, or tricycle is special to you, we would love to have it in our show,” they say.
We should note that Rydell Chevrolet is the original dealership in the Rydell Group, a network of dealerships across the country led by Wes Rydell, son of Rydell Chevrolet’s founder, Leonard Rydell. Wes and his wife Vivian, as you know, are active hot rodders and Goodguys participants who regularly participate in the Goodguys Hall of Fame Road Tour, along with their sons, Bob and his wife, Greta, and Brian and his wife, Mara.
As we noted in the gallery coverage of the 2025 Hall of Fame Road Tour, Goodguys was able to coordinate last year’s tour so it would conclude in Grand Forks the day before the 19th Annual Rydell Car & Bike Show. This gave us and other tour participants the opportunity to participate in this wonderful annual event. It made for a fun day in Grand Forks experiencing the laid-back appeal of a local car show.
Like many local shows, the Rydell Car & Bike Show is a charity event. Each year, the Rydell employees vote on a local charity that will be the beneficiary of the event, and 100-percent of all money donated at the show goes to that charity, including a Rydell company match of up to $40,000. No money is taken out to cover the expenses of the show. For 2025, that charity was HOPE, Inc. Adaptive Sports and Recreation, an organization that provides sport and recreation opportunities for individuals and families with mobility challenges. We’re happy to report that Road Tour participants contributed $5,400 to the show this year from our tour’s poker run. In total, the 2025 Rydell Car & Bike Show raised more than $90,000 for the Hope, Inc. charity!
Good times, good people, and a good cause. The 2025 charity Rydell Car & Bike Show made for a great way to cap off the Goodguys Hall of Fame Road Tour. We thought you should experience a taste of it, too, so we hope you enjoy the photos and coverage on the following pages.
Photos by Damon Lee
