Joe “Zombie Joe” Chavez, president of Duke’s Car Club Fort Worth chapter, considers it a blessing anytime members of his organization are extended an invitation to showcase their lowrider cars for the public.
It’s an opportunity to show off classic vehicles with their paint jobs and shiny chrome, he said.
For his fellow club member Ray Saldaña, public showcases also offer space to educate people who view lowrider drivers as “gang members” or “drug affiliated,” when that narrative is contrary to the truth, he said.
Lowriders are part of a family-oriented culture, he added.
A recent large-scale showcase in downtown Fort Worth gave Saldaña and several members of Duke’s the space to prove just that.
Over 100 lowriders cruised into Sundance Square Sept. 20 for the downtown district’s third annual Car & Culture Show. The event spotlighted customized cars along with Spanish music groups, food vendors and an artisan market.
A multi-venue “Sundance Square Car & Culture Exhibition” was held at the nearby Caravan of Dreams, Zona7 and 400H galleries in conjunction with the lowrider show. The exhibits feature Chicano heritage and the narratives of communities through art on paper, photographs and paintings.
“This big show means Sundance stands behind the culture, recognized the importance of the Hispanic culture, the lowrider culture and that the stereotypes of the past are no longer that,” Saldaña said.
For Chavez, it’s a big deal to be a part of a major event at Sundance Square. This year, members of the Fort Worth chapter brought 18 cars to the showcase.
“For us to bring our cars and car club in the middle of the plaza is crazy,” he said.
The lowrider show took place at the same time as a march and rally in downtown Fort Worth honoring Charlie Kirk, the founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA who was fatally shot at a college event in Utah earlier this month.
Fort Worth artist Sarah Ayala, who founded the downtown lowrider show, said Sundance Square management wasn’t concerned about any conflict between the events since the downtown district and Fort Worth police were in communication about increasing security measures and routing the march around its private streets.
The march began at the JFK Tribute south of downtown and continued north on Houston Street, skirting the Sundance Square event. A handful of people from each crowd shouted at one another and made profane hand gestures, but the march remained peaceful.
While organizing car shows around the city for years, Ayala was always on the lookout for a large platform to showcase lowriders.
She got in touch with Sundance Square management and the Bass family, who owns the downtown district, and pitched a “glimmer of an idea” with Duke’s Car Club.
“They really liked it and then it snowballed from there,” Ayala, who now serves as the art director at Sundance Square, said.
Although the lowrider show is still in its infancy, Ayala has heard nothing but positive feedback from attendees discovering the city’s vibrant car culture. She hopes to see the event take up more downtown streets in the future.
“I always hear back from people who had no idea that there’s things like this in Fort Worth,” she said. “That’s the fun of it, because I get to share that this community is alive and very much active.”
David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.
Disclosure: Fort Worth artist Sarah Ayala is a cousin to assistant managing editor Eva-Marie Ayala. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.