As far as inaugural events go, things could not have gone much smoother for the Park in the Park Car Show at City Park on Sunday.
The event, which was organized by Lawrence Morgan and Melodie Davidoff, featured over 100 cars, trucks and even a few motorcycles.
“We’re members of the Beaumont-Chevelle club and we invited all these people,” said Morgan. “We met all these people going to different car shows throughout B.C., Alberta and the United States and have become friends. This is our debut.”
For a photo gallery of the show click here.
The pair thought the beautiful setting of City Park would be a great place to hold a car show and the location, and weather, did not disappoint.
“This is our passion,” said Morgan.
“We enjoy going to car shows and meeting car people. We live in Grand Forks and thought, ‘Look at the setting.’ It’s beautiful. Why not? Penticton is getting so big. Grand Forks hasn’t had a car show in 20 years. We thought, ‘It’s time. Let’s get them out here and make it bigger and better.’”
The couple had hosted a barbecue for car enthusiasts for the past 15 years but wanted to do more.
“This way it gave them something to do for the weekend,” said Davidoff.
“We would have never got these great cars out here with a one-day event,” added Morgan.
The weekend kicked off with a barbeque for over 100 people on Friday night at the couple’s house. On Saturday, the vehicles went on a cruise up the North Fork to Christina Lake and took pictures of the lake.
The car show featured vehicles of all different types from all different eras. Morgan figured the oldest vehicle was Dr. Gregory’s 1911 Russell Knight. Dr. Gregory and his wife Julie both played the part wearing period garb.
“We had a 1970 Hemi Cuda with a 528 Ray Barton Hemi in it,” said Morgan. “We had a Chevelle from Wintrop, Washington, with a 427 crate engine that is just total custom. It was unbelievable.”
The Chevelle was custom built by Darold Brandenburg as a tribute to his two sons who died in separate car accidents. The boys were big fans of Transformers and dreamed of building a bumblebee car like in the movie.
Coun. Bob Kendel was on hand and agreed that the car show was a big success and a boon for Grand Forks.
“It just goes to show what two people along with a lot of hard work and dedication over a lengthy period can accomplish,” he said. “It’s a credit to them and the community for coming out to support it. It’s the kind of thing the community needs to get behind and support and hopefully people will keep coming out to these kind of events.”
Kendel said the car show and events like it are great for civic pride.
In addition to representing the city, Kendel was out and about in a role as a community ambassador.
The program, which has only been in existence for a few weeks, is a collaboration between the city, the Boundary Regional Chamber of Commerce, Grand Forks Credit Union and the Visitor Information Centre.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people from Grand Forks about the program,” he said. “I’ve talked to a lot of people from out of town and thanked them for visiting. I offered them the information about places to go and where to camp.”