Steve McQueen Day draws fans to Slater

Visitors to Steve McQueen Day in Slater watch a film of stunt work in the 1966 film "The Sand Pebbles." Loren Janes, a friend of and stunt double for McQueen, organized the stuntwork of the film. Janes generally charges $10,000 to speak, but he appeared Saturday for free.   ¦  MATT HEINDL

SLATER — Steve McQueen would have had a good time in his hometown of Slater this weekend, Barbara Minty, his widow, and Loren Janes, a friend of the actor and one of McQueen’s stuntmen, said.

The city coordinated dozens of events to celebrate the actor’s life on Steve McQueen Day, including tours of his former school and hometown and presentations by people who knew him well. Nearly 3,000 people came to the town to remember McQueen, a popular film actor during the 1960s who died in 1980.

Also hundreds of antique cars and motorcycles lined the main street for the city’s first Midwest region auto show of the year. The auto event was meant to honor McQueen’s association with old cars.