The Santa Cruz Woodies Club brought its wood bodied wagons back to the Grand Cypress Meadow at Asilomar Conference Grounds on Thursday, August 13, running from noon until 5 p.m. for the second annual Woodies in the Woods, held during Monterey Car Week 2026 in Pacific Grove. Owners and spectators gathered for an afternoon built around classic wood paneled wagons set beneath a canopy of Monterey pines and cypress trees.
Woodies trace their origins to the 1930s and 1940s, when wood bodied station wagons built by manufacturers such as Ford, Chevrolet, and Buick served as practical family and utility vehicles. By the 1960s, used woodies became cheap, spacious vehicles for surfers to pile in boards and gear, cementing their place in beach culture and turning once ordinary wagons into lasting icons of American car history.
Admission remained free, a distinction that placed Woodies in the Woods among the week’s most accessible gatherings alongside the Tour d’Elegance and Concours Carmel. Presale wristbands sold for $45 through Eventbrite and covered two food items along with generous tastings of Woodies in the Woods Lager, a beer brewed specifically for the event by Other Brother Beer Company. Onsite wristbands were available for $55, and parking remained free on the property and along nearby streets. Among Car Week’s many gatherings, it stood as the only car event dedicated exclusively to Woodies.
Live reggae music, Hawaiian themed food offerings and the custom local beer collaboration defined the afternoon. Musical performances and dancing carried across the open coastal wooded meadow throughout the day, giving spectators plenty to enjoy beyond the cars on display. A beer garden gave attendees a place to relax with a local craft pour while the ocean breeze moved through the setting. The day unfolded at a relaxed pace, with wagons parked in loose rows beneath the trees and attendees moving freely between the cars, the music and the beer garden.
Amid a week defined by manicured lawns, formal judging and record setting auction prices, Woodies in the Woods held its ground as something looser and more communal. Against that backdrop of polished concours culture, the meadow at Asilomar offered a counterpoint. No registration was required for participating woodies, and the show remained open to owners and spectators alike, continuing a tradition the Santa Cruz Woodies Club has now carried through two consecutive years of Car Week.
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