During a time of year when roads routinely are closed for construction, a street in South Park is shutting down temporarily for a reason that looks to be much more enjoyable.

The 14th annual Rev ’Em Up for Kids Mega Car Cruise Event, presented by Pasta Too Italian Restaurant in Bethel Park, is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 31, with a rain date at the same time the following day.

Starting at 9 a.m., Corrigan Drive will close from its intersection with McConkey Road and Maple Springs Drive southward to the crosswalk that connects to the Allegheny County Police Stable, near the South Park Fairgrounds. Parked in between will be an array of vintage, classic and specialty vehicles.

The event previously was in the parking lot at Corrigan and 100 Acres drives, near the South Park Ice Rink.

“We had over a thousand cars through last year, and we keep growing,” organizer Jim Gastgeb said. “It’s almost like a safety hazard, with that many cars in that tight of an area to pull in and pull out. So we had to come up with something different and that was more accommodating.”

The lifelong Bethel Park resident worked with county police to come up with a detour, with motorists advised to take Maple Springs to Brownsville Road on the day of the event.

Staging the cruise along South Park’s main thoroughfare presents a bit of a logistical challenge, according to Gastgeb.

“We can’t set up prior because the road is going to be open,” he said, and as such, no show vehicles will be admitted before 10 a.m. All motorists are to enter at the McConkey-Maple Springs intersection, the site of Corrigan’s only traffic signal south of Route 88.

Organizers have rented several picnic groves for spectator parking and various activities. A Kids’ Zone is featured at the Black and Gold Playground, at Corrigan and Sesqui drives, and the site for food vendors is Edgebrook Field, about midway along the swath of show vehicles.

Among them will be one that’s detailed to resemble the car Burt Reynolds drove for the “Smokey and the Bandit” movies, Gastgeb’s 1977 Pontiac Trans Am.

“One of the few times it gets out a year is at this event,” he said. “So I’ll definitely have it there.”

The cost for the participating show vehicles is $10, and cash donations from spectators are encouraged. All money raised benefits UPMC Children’s Hospital Foundation, the sole fundraising arm of the pediatric medical center in Lawrenceville.

“Last year was the first year with them, and it was a great partnership,” Gastgeb said. “So we’re very, very happy to be back with them this year.”

Pasta Too, the third-generation family restaurant owned by Raymond Piacquadio, is the event’s Diamond Sponsor.

“We’ve been very blessed over the years, and it’s one of the many ways that we like to give back,” he said. “I’ve always been partial to kids, because they’re our future. That’s always been near and dear to me.”

As a vintage car owner himself, he is glad to partner with Gastgeb for each year’s cruise.

“We both want to deliver what we think the community wants, and it’s all for a great cause,” Piacquadio said. “But at the end of the day, it’s to bring a bunch of people together to smile, laugh, remember: My grandpap had a car like that.”

He acknowledged the continued support of dozens of other sponsors in helping to make the event a success.

Gastgeb, in turn, acknowledged Piacquadio’s support:

“Without his generosity, we can’t do this.”

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