The Iola Old Car Show began on July 16, 1972, when Chet Krause invited a couple score local collector car enthusiasts to attend the 17th annual Iola Lions Club Chicken Roast fundraiser at Ingval Olson Memorial Park as his guests, offering two free chicken dinners if they drove one of their vintage vehicles, which brought more than 20 vehicles, including his two Model T Fords. The first official show followed on July 15, 1973, as the Iola Lions Club Antique Auto Festival, Chicken Roast and Donation Auction, with more than 90 collector cars on exhibit. The launch of the Old Cars newspaper in fall 1971 inspired Krause’s 1972 invitation, revived his interest in old cars as a hobby, and helped spur the event’s growth, and by 1977 it had become widely known and billed as the Iola Old Car Show. In 1976, the event moved to grounds adjoining the new Krause Publications location at 700 E. State Street, and by then had grown to more than 500 show cars and 10,000 attendees. Today it annually draws more than 125,000 enthusiasts, with more than 2,200 show cars on display and more than 4,400 vendor spots.