Anyone able to appreciate the aesthetics and fine craftsmanship of classic, exquisitely-restored funeral vehicles, ambulances and livery-type limousines will want to be in Lebanon, Missouri from July 19th-22nd, 2017 for the Professional Car Society’s 41st Annual International Meet, especially as this historic U.S. 66 Ozarks town and local mortician Kenneth Howe have successfully hosted this event twice previously in 1992 and 2001.  This year’s Hampton Inn (417-533-3100) headquarters hotel, located at 930 Ivey Lane off West Elm Street, will be offering a special $95 nightly pre-tax room rate to callers mentioning the PCS International Meet, and attendees can also opt for the adjacent Holiday Inn Express (417-532-1111, $95-up) and Super 8 Motel (417-588-2574, $82-up).   The closest major airports to Lebanon on the Interstate 44 corridor are Springfield-Branson (SGF) an hour southwest and St. Louis International (STL) 2.5 hours to the northeast, while Kansas City International (MCI) is another option 3.5 hours northwest and Greyhound offers direct bus service.

A downloadable registration form detailing the meet’s itinerary and activity fees can be found on the official PCS website at www.TheProfessionalCarSociety.org, and Ken Howe is happy to field prospective attendee queries at (417) 594-4061 or kennethhowe1933@gmail.com.   The first event scheduled is a 4 pm Wednesday welcome tour of his Holman-Howe Funeral Home, followed by an all day Thursday luxury bus trip to Branson’s Silver Dollar City theme park and Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede Theater and a 4 pm Friday “pro-car” procession to the Evergreen Historical Automobiles collection.   PCS Lebanon’s Main Event, nonetheless, will be the 10am-3pm Saturday Car Show inside the climate-controlled Kenneth E. Cowan Civic Center at 500 East Elm Street, as The Show Me State’s auto enthusiasts may never get a better chance to admire the creations of such skilled hearse, ambulance and livery vehicle builders as Eureka, Flxible, Henney, Pinner, Siebert, Sayers & Scovill, Miller-Meteor, Cotner/Bevington, Armbruster/Stageway and Superior.   All exhibit cars must have wheel chocks and fire extinguishers and be shown without coffins, cobwebs, skeletons or other morbid distractions in deference to PCS Constitution provisions that do permit funeral vehicles with floral arrangements and authentic rescue gear inside ambulances and hearse-ambulance “combination” coaches (camper conversions retaining their original bodies can also participate but won’t be judged).   Saturday evening’s awards banquet at the Cowan Civic Center will conclude most-memorably at 8 pm with a Moving Lights and Siren Show to the I-44 Speedway, ensuring immediate anticipation for future PCS International Meets already scheduled for Detroit in 2018; South Dakota’s Black Hills in 2019; the Upstate New York Adirondacks in 2020; and Ohio in 2021.