By Bryce Crossman
The Indiana Motorcycle Preservation Society hosted its annual Cornfield Classic event on June 8.
The Cornfield Classic kicked off a fundraising campaign from the IMPS to buy the old Glenn Scott Harley Davidson building on Third Street.
“We’re trying to raise $150,000 to purchase the (Glenn Scott building),” Loretta Tappan, IMPS board member and secretary-treasurer, said. “And what we want to do is create a museum on one side in the Glenn Scott building, and then have a restoration shop on what is currently the muffler shop side.”
The event started at noon with live music, food and a 60-mile bike ride around Grant County. Participants visited locations with significance to Grant County’s motorcycle history.
When the building the IMPS was originally looking at was sold, the IMPS board found that Jones was selling the Glenn Scott building. They began talking with him about purchasing the building.
“The biggest thing is the collaboration, and working,” Tappan said, “trying to just get the word out about what we’re trying to do, why it’s important, what the vision is, and then who also wants to be a part of that.”
The City of Marion, IMPS and other businesses from across Grant County worked together to put on the Cornfield Classic.
“I think it’s great. It’s like everything else, the people trying to keep the history and it’s a good building,” Woodrow Clark Jones, owner of the Holt Muffler building, said.
Kathy Chandler, a volunteer at the event, said that they want to keep the history of the Cornfield Classic going,
“And it should bring a lot of people in. Harley Davidson is interested in getting into it, the (IMPS) people are interested,” Chandler said. “It’s just taking time to get it going.”
IMPS is dedicathttps://indianamps.orged to ensuring that the history and stories of Indiana’s motorcycle history are passed down to future generations. Turning the Glenn Scott building into a museum and restoration shop will help in that mission.
“We really want to make this happen,” Tappan said. “We’re committed to it,”
IMPS posts updates and information about events at https://indianamps.org
Andrew Scalf