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<\/p>\nEVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) – Classic cars aren\u2019t the only thing drawing a crowd this weekend \u2014 local restaurants are feeling it too.<\/p>\n
The 51st annual Frog Follies car show is underway at the Vanderburgh County Fairgrounds, bringing thousands of vintage car enthusiasts \u2014 and their appetites \u2014 to the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery year we see quite a few cars and a lot of people up here,\u201d said Ed Atkins, bar manager at the Hornet\u2019s Nest.<\/p>\n
The Hornet\u2019s Nest Restaurant and Bar sits on the corner of Petersburg and E Boonville-New Harmony roads in Earle, about three miles from the fairgrounds, where the pre-1950s car show is held. Atkins also owns Pizza Depot next door. The two restaurants share a parking lot \u2014 and much of their clientele.<\/p>\n
Atkins says the show is good for business.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch of the restaurant is booked this evening. We have a couple parties of 20 and 25. I think quite a few of them are probably coming over here from the fairgrounds. So it\u2019s going to have an impact,\u201d Atkins said.<\/p>\n
But he says that impact isn\u2019t quite what it used to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have noticed this last few years that they\u2019ve had on premise dinners and dances at the fairgrounds, so we don\u2019t see quite as many people come over,\u201d Atkins said.<\/p>\n
Frog Follies closes its gates at 4 p.m. each day, and Atkins says that\u2019s when things start to pick up at the Hornet\u2019s Nest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t get really a late night crowd from the Frog Follies. And I don\u2019t blame them driving those cars. I would want that somewhere safe at night too,\u201d Atkins said.<\/p>\n
He says the car show draws people from well beyond the Tri-State.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now there\u2019s some people from La Porte, Indiana, from Missouri. But I know people drive from not just the Midwest, but from all over to show off the hot rods for sure,\u201d Atkins said.<\/p>\n
No matter where they\u2019re from, Atkins says the Hornet\u2019s Nest is ready to serve them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe probably make the best specialty burgers in Evansville. This is the best locally owned restaurant in the tri-state. I\u2019ll stand by that. I might be biased, but it\u2019s the truth,\u201d Atkins said.<\/p>\n
14 News also stopped by Frontier Restaurant and Bar, off Highway 57 in Daylight \u2014 a little farther from the main drag leading out of the fairgrounds. The owner says they haven\u2019t seen a big uptick in business from Frog Follies, but they\u2019ve got cold beer on tap and southern fried catfish for anyone who steps in the door.<\/p>\n
Frog Follies runs through this weekend at the Vanderburgh County 4-H Fairgrounds.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WFIE. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) – Classic cars aren\u2019t the only thing drawing a crowd this weekend \u2014 local restaurants are feeling it too. The 51st annual Frog Follies car show is underway at the Vanderburgh County Fairgrounds, bringing thousands of vintage car enthusiasts \u2014 and their appetites \u2014 to the area. \u201cEvery year we see quite<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3273,15235,15233,1348,15234,15231,15232,7,8,15236],"class_list":["post-17549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-restaurants","tag-bar","tag-classic-cars","tag-earle","tag-eatery","tag-frog-follies","tag-hornets-nest","tag-pizza-depot","tag-restaurant","tag-restaurants","tag-vanderburgh-county"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117177047070519295","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}