Pontiac Firebirds will crowd the streets of Waterloo on Saturday, May 21, with cars of every color and every model year being featured. 

A parade, which will roll into town at approximately 11:30 a.m., and subsequent festival is part of the larger second annual Firebird Fest. 

While the four-day experience, which runs from May 19-22, will feature car shows around the St. Louis area, a Firebird parade around the NASCAR track and more, event founder Rod Haffer said Saturday’s showing in Waterloo will provide the public with a unique opportunity. 

“With some of these cars that are coming to Firebird Fest, there may have been only 20 or 30 ever made. A lot of these cars you won’t get to see unless you go to a museum somewhere and look at them, but this is an experience where you can actually see these cars going down the highway and coming through the town,” Haffer said. 

The event has already drawn Pontiac Firebird owners from 25 states, and Haffer said he expects this figure to continue to grow, resulting in over 200 Firebirds making their way to Waterloo. 

Here, the cars will do what the ever-reliable Pontiac does best, separating Saturday’s festivities from a traditional car show.

“We think that these cars are special and we think that they were built for driving,” Haffer said. “We think that is the most valuable thing you can do with these cars, instead of parking them for eight hours on a parking lot.” 

The Waterloo Optimist Club and Kevin Oeste, popular TV personality and man behind V8 Speed and Resto shop in Red Bud, are hosting the Waterloo event. 

Haffer said community support solidified Waterloo as a must-have destination in the festival line-up. 

“We try to pick locations that are different, fun and a little bit off the beaten path, a little bit out of the way. We definitely try to pick communities that want to be involved and Mayor Tom Smith was very excited when we approached them,” Haffer said. “We definitely would love to go to a small little town that appreciates these cars and wants to be involved and help us put on a great event.” 

Portions of registration for Firebird Fest and all donations collected at the Waterloo event will go toward Kids Rock Cancer, a Maryville University program that allows children who have been diagnosed with cancer or a blood disorder to harness the healing power of music. 

Kids in the program write and produce their very own song. 

“We have a lot of music-lovers in our group, we have a lot of classic rock lovers in our group,” Haffer said, explaining this music era is synonymous with that of the Firebird. “I found out about (Kids Rock Cancer) by accident and thought, ‘That sounds like the perfect charity for us to help out.’ We wanted to do it with a purpose instead of doing it for a selfish reason, we wanted to do something for a good cause, so this year we’re doing it for Kids Rock Cancer.” 

Haffer said the Waterloo Optimists will also have food stands to raise money for the Waterloo High School Auto Club. 

Of course, no Firebird event would be complete without paying homage to the movie that ignited the Firebird flame – “Smokey and the Bandit.” 

The film’s featured 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am arguably upstaged Burt Reynolds as Bandit and Jackie Gleason as Sheriff Buford T. Justice. 

“A lot of interest for these cars came out in the 70s when this car was in the movie. When we were kids, this is the thing we played with, those were the toys that we had, so these were popular during the time we were growing up,” Haffer explained. “So, we hired Smokey and the Bandit actors who are the most prolific and best re-creators of these characters from this movie. One guy dresses up like Burt Reynolds and one guy dresses up like Jackie Gleason and they drive around the cars all weekend with us, so they are also part of the experience with us.” 

Tim Phillips appears as Bandit, Sean Bailey as Buford T. Justice and Jason Bobbitt as Junior Justice.

The actors were seen a few weekends ago in Waterloo, cruising around with a fleet of approximately 30 Firebirds, provided by Troy’s I-55 Firebirds car club, for a “test run” of sorts for May’s showing. 

“It was just to get the word out and show the people of Waterloo what they’re going to see when they come out in May,” Haffer said. 

To register or learn more about Firebird Fest, visit firebirdfest.com. For more about Kids Rock Cancer or to donate to the cause, visit kidsrockcancer.org.