A good car show compared to bad (input)

[sam z]

Hey guys,
My church is thinking of hosting a car show. We're bouncing some dates and ideas around. Here is a few things we've
come up with:
1. Stay away from weekends that have another big show in town somewhere.
2. Fair (or unfair) judging is a big complaint.
3. We'd charge a $______ to get in. With that you'd get a decent meal (dogs, potato salad, soda)
4. Have guys attend many local shows and drop many advertisements.
5. Advertise on Craigslist or any other free / cheap source.
6. Have car owners perform the judging by providing each with a ballot. Pick 3 cars, and your #1 and #2 cannot
be the make that you drove in (no chevy guy voting on a chevy for #1 and #2).

We have a big parking lot (at least 100 spots) plus a nicely kept, flat yard if we need more room.

Any thoughts guys? I'm sure some of you have been doing this long enough to provide some decent
advice.

 

[69hemibeep]

Food, music. We have one promoter here that gets around the judging thing by picking what they see as the top ten cars, be they rods,muscle or what ever in no particular order. Then calls these cars up to the front so everyone can see them and awards them with shirts trophies or what ever. I got one and I got called first, so in my mind I won :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

 

[Roadcuda]

How much you charge will depend on how much you would like to make off the show, is it for charity? You need to figure out what any prizes will cost, and if you're including a lunch that of course will factor into the cost and have still be able to make any money. Most shows in my area are $10. One show that is for charity is $20, but that will include an event shirt. As far as the kind of judging, well that is always a big question. Again most of the shows here are participant judging. In my experience most of the time you do get the best cars, but sometimes you get cars that have the most bling, but may not always be the best cars otherwise. If you have judges you need to have people who can judge it for what it is, and IMHO that means you judge each car on it's own condition, not how it compares to the other cars there. Tha is of course unless you have two cars that are so close as to which is better, then you may have to get picky on which is better.

 

[george68hemirr]

:cheers:

Hey guys,
My church is thinking of hosting a car show. We're bouncing some dates and ideas around. Here is a few things we've
come up with:
1. Stay away from weekends that have another big show in town somewhere.
2. Fair (or unfair) judging is a big complaint.
3. We'd charge a $______ to get in. With that you'd get a decent meal (dogs, potato salad, soda)
4. Have guys attend many local shows and drop many advertisements.
5. Advertise on Craigslist or any other free / cheap source.
6. Have car owners perform the judging by providing each with a ballot. Pick 3 cars, and your #1 and #2 cannot
be the make that you drove in (no chevy guy voting on a chevy for #1 and #2).

We have a big parking lot (at least 100 spots) plus a nicely kept, flat yard if we need more room.
1...CORRECT
2...DO A PEOPLES CHOICE....like 25 trophies...then your group picks out best of show/best paint/best engine/best interior /best paint with a larger trophy
3....ask for a donation or maybe 2-3 bucks to get in and they pay for there food
4...make up flyers on the show and pass out as many as you can....also post show on various internet car show listings in your area
5 advertise where ever you can.....we have a newspaper....special interest with cars/parts/shows listed
6....peoples choice works the best.....then nobody can say you didnt vote for them.....its a fair way to do a show
7....look for sponsors for the show.....local businesses....have a sponsor board with all there names on them and anounce there businesses every hour with a DJ
8....you need a DJ with old music.....have 50/50 drawings also to raise more money

hope this helps.....we do a show for the youth center every year
:cheers:

 

[Basketcase]

and tell the DJ that the music doesn't need to be heard in the next town. nothing ruins a show more for me than blaring music.

 

[69hemibeep]

and tell the DJ that the music doesn't need to be heard in the next town. nothing ruins a show more for me than blaring music.

We have one I can hear from home and the broad the runs the show loves to hear herself talk between songs :toetap:

 

[Big John]

I like to keep things simple.

Do a couple of "Best of's" like Best of Show etc. Have everyone vote for those, but maybe if you have a sponsor(s), have them pick a winner. "XYZ Company Choice".

Advertise anywhere it's free. Best thing to do is copy some fliers and toss them on the seats of the show cars at a couple of shows prior to your show. Yea, I know it annoys some people, but most don't care.

Have some fun, make your money by selling food and maybe just a couple bucks to get in. Goodie bags are cool and people do like dash plaques, but save those for next year... AFTER you see how it goes this year.

Keep it fun!! Balloons for the kids type stuff and maybe a couple games. We did an engine block toss at a local Mopar show that I was involved in.

 

[glhcarl]

A small church down the road from me did something interesting last year:

When you pulled in they took a picture of your car. When it came time to hand out awards, every car recieved a small plaque that had the church name and date and a clear plastic frame that held a 4 X 6 photo of the car.

I would show you mine but I took to my club as an example of something we could do and they lost it?

 

[george68hemirr]

thats a nice idea

 

[mtdrydock]

Or car show does the picture thing, but they mail it to you after the show. They top 12 recieve jackets that the following year get in for free and have a special row and are not judged. Then they have 12 Gold, 12 Silver, and 12 Bronze trophies plus peoples choice, participants choice, survivor, motorcycle, truck, long distance and under 21 trophies. they also do a goodie bag, door prizes and a participants BBQ all the day of. The night before there is a cruise night with a poker run where you do games to earn your cards.

It is $25 to enter your car, $5 display only, and $2 to attend. Food is sold by area vendors in concession stands. Usually average between 150-200 cars depending on the weather.

http://www.cheekster.com/cars-in-the-park.html

 

[sam z]

Sounding good guys....keep going if there is anything else.
-Sam

 

[bighook]

All good points so far. Participant voting, sell food and beverages, see how the first show goes before taking the next step of dash plaques and t-shirts, distribute flyers everywhere, etc.

Scheduling a show can get tricky when the summer show season rolls around though. Our local Mopar club has 2 shows a year. Early June on and late August. They both have been weekend shows for the past 30 years but because of moderate but sometimes fluctuating turnout, we began having the late summer show "Under the lights" on a Friday evening 3 years ago. In 08, attendance was around 75 vehicles, in 09 it was around 125, in 10, it jumped up to 175 vehicles. We're expecting more this year. It's become insanely popular. Some seldom seen local Mopar iron turns up as well.

The biggest thing is there's virtually no scheduling conflict. It's Friday evening. End the the week. The weekend's appointments are still ahead. Everyone is in a good mood. Take the Mopar out with the family. It kind of has that "cruising free in your ride and hanging out" feel that we remember from our somewhat youthful days gone by. Best decision the club has made in recent years.

Of course it helps to have a reasonable sized venue with the aforementioned well lit area. In our case, the local Dodge dealer hosts the show. Pretty much it's the dealer clearing their lot for us and we take care of the rest but it's a win-win situation. They get the attention and foot traffic in their showroom and we have a deluxe venue to put on a show.

Tim

 

[sam z]

Tim,
That sounds like a good plan. The parking lot lighting has got to be good. My church lot isn't equipped that way
unfortunately.

You're right about the Friday night / people are in a good mood point as well. Right on. That is a great way to
take advantage of it.

Thanks guys.

 

[3BIRDS1X]

the local Dodge dealer hosts the show. Pretty much it's the dealer clearing their lot for us and we take care of the rest but it's a win-win situation. They get the attention and foot traffic in their showroom and we have a deluxe venue to put on a show.

What dealer is that at? when is it ? I work most weekends so I never get to do any show/swaps lately.

 

[bighook]

It's held at Schlossmann's Dodge City located at 19100 Capitol Drive in Brookfield. Friday August 19th.

Most everybody likes the fact that it's on Friday night. Minimal interference with something else. We purposely schedule it a week after the Nats so everyone is home then.

You should try and make it 3Bird. It's a terrific show.

 

[3BIRDS1X]

little ways off but I will try and make it, trivia:I used to work for them around 1987-ish when they were at 27th and layton in the parts dept.

 

[bighook]

little ways off but I will try and make it, trivia:I used to work for them around 1987-ish when they were at 27th and layton in the parts dept.

Sounds good.

The 27th and Layton store is now a Subaru dealer.

Trivia: That was originally Peters Dodge before Schlossmann's bought it back in the mid 1970's. Quite a few new and used Hi-Perf Mopars came off that lot during the glory years. Several cars are still local, in the hands of the original or second owner's.

 

[69hemibeep]

Its hard to do something new around here unless its in the morning. We have 3-5 on Friday also Saturday now there are scattered Monday and Tuesday shows, their just beating each other up.