A little more than a week after it was used to announce the visit of Jay Leno to come to Salina, The Garage hosted its official opening Thursday.
People from Salina, the Midwest and around the country toured the car museum after the ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon at the 134 S. Fourth St. building.
Speaking at the event were representatives from Salina, including Mayor Trent Davis. The mayor said when funding from the city was asked for by the stakeholders of the museum, there was skepticism that this large facility could be transformed into something like he saw Thursday.
“We had to be cognizant to the fact that approved projects would be those which would bring in tourism,” Davis said. 
He said the idea of a car museum might appeal to the enthusiast who is in town anyway for a basketball game or for their child’s baseball event at The Yard next door, but after walking into the building Thursday, Davis was sold on this as an experience.
“The (kids) won’t even want to go play basketball or baseball; they’ll want to come here,” Davis said.
Davis also said this attraction, being close to downtown Salina, will hopefully encourage people to spend money in the shops and restaurants there.
Eric Brown, the president and CEO of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce, said more than 20,000 vehicles pass by Salina everyday, and he hopes this will be another reason for people to pull off of interstates 70 and 135 and stop in the city.
Brown said he too hopes people will find their way to Salina and that people in the community will invite others outside the community to this city. “Salina is not the same Salina it was even five years ago,” he said.
The Garage was a project years in the making. Tom Pestinger, the president of the board of directors for The Garage, said he was excited for this day. “We’ve been working on this for eight years, and all the sudden it’s become a reality,” Pestinger said.
Pestinger said it wasn’t just one person or even a small group of people who made this happen but an effort of several in the community and even around the country who have worked for years, whether they realized it or not, to make this happen.
“We have not had to pay for any transportation (to get the cars here),” Pestinger said. “People bring them here and come pick them up.”
Even the 1929 Deusenberg Model J, with less than 500 ever made and described by Pestinger to be valued at $2 million, came all the way from St. Louis without The Garage having to help pay to get it to Salina.
Though cars are obviously the main attraction at the museum, other, smaller artifacts have just as much impact to many people in the community.
“A lot of the signs and everything that you see inside are ones people have had in their garages for years,” Pestinger said. A blue lighted Chevrolet sign, for example, was in a garage for 20 years. “It’s amazing the people who have donated signs,” Pestinger said.
Even with a role like president of the board, Pestinger said there were things that he did throughout the past two years to get to this place, cleaning up and getting this building ready, working up to the last moment to make sure everything was ready.
“Yesterday, I washed the windows, front doors and everything and scrubbed the whole floor,” Pestinger said.
Working with community and regional partners. In addition to displaying cars from Salina and elsewhere, The Garage is also partnering with organizations to promote opportunities and education.
One way this is seen is with McPherson College’s Automotive Restoration Technology Program, the only program of its kind in the United States.
The Garage hired two graduates, Calvin Cassida as director of vehicles and Matthew Miller-Wells as director of education from the McPherson College program. The museum also has two vehicles on display from the college, a 1917 Willys-Knight 88-4 Touring and a replica of the 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen No. 1, the first automobile produced.
Cassida and Miller-Wells joined Amanda Gutierrez, the college’s vice president for automotive restoration, and other alum, friends and at least one current student of the program, to celebrate this event.
In addition to the two vehicles the school owns, faculty, alumni and a current student also have vehicles on display.
The Garage now open for the weekends. The Garage will be open to the public beginning Friday. Michelle Peck, the museum’s executive director, said The Garage will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
In addition to these weekend times for the public, The Garage will also be available for educational opportunities. “We’ll be able to do school groups and field trips throughout the week, ,” Peck said.
Admission is $15 for the general public, $12 for seniors, students and military members and free for children under three years of age.
Additionally, VIP memberships, which include unlimited admission and other benefits, are offered for The Garage starting at $45 for individuals and higher for memberships of more than one person. For more information, visit The Garage’s website, www.seama.org
