5/15/15
(With help from Rob Moore)
(Cleveland)- The invasion has begun, as thousands of VW and Audi vehicles starting arriving in White County for this weekends SoWo automobile event. An estimated 23,000 is expected to be in Helen for the event. Southern Worthersee is a stateside Volkswagen and event that pays tribute to the Worthersee Tour in Austria. The event has grown in attendance each year and co-organizer Matt Bounds said he expects this year to draw peak attendance this year.
Helen Police Chief Jim Couch, has been working closely with Bounds for months, in preparation for this event and the record-breaking crowds. Couch said SoWo eclipses the previous crowd record of 7,000 that was achieved at a Ricky Skaggs concert during White County’s 150th anniversary celebration.
The actually SoWo car show will be held on private property, but attendees will spill over to designated parking areas secured for event parking throughout the city. SoWo draws attendance from around the world.
“All of our full- and part-time officers will be here,” Couch said. “SoWo helps actually fund hiring off-duty deputies, so we hire about 10 off-duty deputies and pay them. And we also are working really well with the Georgia State Patrol in Gainesville, and they’re going to be bringing in about 14 or 15 of their troopers and I think they’re going to try to involve their aviation unit, too.”
Businessman David Wilkins is providing Helen police with a temporary precinct in his shopping center on the south end of the city for the duration of the event. Hundreds of the cars packed the Auto Craze Cars Wash in Cleveland Thursday, as owners cleaned up their vehicles for the weekend event.
