A handful of dark clouds were gathering on the horizon Sunday morning as classic, modern and muscle cars lined up at the Donohoe Center in Hempfield for the first Westmoreland Ramble, a road rally to benefit the Westmoreland Land Trust.

But with a positive forecast and a 66-mile course that explored the history, scenery and start of fall foliage season across the county, drivers such as Mark Beardmore of North Huntingdon were practically guaranteed a few sunny miles.

“I’ve done rallies before, but not here,” said Beardmore, who was driving his 2005 BMW Z4 convertible. “I had a degree in automotive marketing, and we used to do rallies all the time up in Midland, Mich., where I went to school.”

One leg of the 66-mile route passes by the trust’s latest acquisition, the planned Carl A. Schwarz Memorial Park on a 96-acre farm along Beech Hills Road in Hempfield. That scenic site is being eyed as a place where visitors can enjoy nature and art.

Land trust executive director Betsy Aiken said the idea for the rally came from Murrysville couple Bruce and Carol Gezon. Bruce Gezon has experience at the national level in road rallies — he’s in the Sports Club of America’s Hall of Fame and is credited with 43 national championships since 1968. He laid out Sunday’s course, as well as editions of the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix in the past.

“Carol grabbed Bruce’s interest in it and brought it to us,” Aiken said. “We’ve been talking with them about it for a couple years.”

Plans to hold the first rally in the fall of 2020 fell through because of covid concerns.

Each car must have a driver and a navigator, and Gezon included questions about places along the route. Unlike more competitive rallies, however, it was not timed.

For Don Palm of Irwin, Sunday’s rally was a chance to rev the engine on his yellow-green 1969 Ford Mustang for one of the final times this year, a last hurrah before getting it winterized and stored.

“I’ll get it out sometimes in the off-season if it’s warm, but usually this is the time of year when we’re getting ready to put it away,” he said.

Aiken said about 50 vehicles had registered for the rally. Proceeds will help continue the Westmoreland Land Trust’s mission of preserving county land to help create green-way corridors and protect areas of ecological, historical and cultural value.

For more information, see Westmoreland-LandTrust.org.

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