Gearing up for 18th Annual Show and Shine

Jenna Campbell

Times Jr. Reporter

 

The Strathmore Fun Runners will be presenting their 18th Annual Show and Shine, an event organized by Muscle Motors, a local Strathmore business. Many classic cars will be given the chance to be put on display at Kinsmen Park July 15-16.

Beginning on Friday, at 6 p.m., car enthusiasts will be conducting a cruise throughout Strathmore, beginning the convoy at the local A&W, making way for a short stop at the Strathmore Lodge to visit with the residents and finally circle back to the starting point.

The Show and Shine will begin on Saturday at 9 a.m., and includes a $10 fee for anyone who wishes to enter the show. Alongside the exhibition during the day, there will be face painting and activities for the kids, door prizes, beer gardens, a live band, and a concession, where all proceeds are being donated to Strathmore’s Lord of All Lutheran Church. Also, a table set where the chairs are built to resemble car wheels will be raffled off, and tickets can be purchased now or at the event. In addition, a chassis ‘dyno’, a device used to measure a car’s power, will also be brought back this year, given the good response it received after making its first appearance to the show the previous year. 

As for the number of vehicles to be expected in the show, President of Muscle Motors, Todd Blakney, is hoping this year’s turnout will hit the 200 range.

“Unfortunately, Airdrie has a show and Calgary has a big one at the same time, and Vulcan has theirs. There are just so many shows, that’s why we keep our admission ten dollars, we keep it low, and we give a lot of prizes,” said Blakney.

In recent years, there has been a significant decline in the number of participants, given that many car shows are using the same date, according to Blakney, who states that numbers used to reach 300 to 350.

“For a lot of the shows that people do attend elsewhere, Strathmore probably has one of the finest locations. There are so many other shows that don’t host the event on a grassy area around a lake with lots of trees, where people can set up tents and lawn chairs. There’s just that kind of room versus the pavement where a lot of the shows in Calgary are on concrete and asphalt,” said Blakney.

For all the more reason to come out the Show and Shine, compared to other shows, Strathmore has very little traffic and enables a lot of drivers to easily to hit the highway in their supercharged vehicles.

“Get out of the city and come to the town! I think we put on a pretty good venue and people do walk out with pretty good stuff for really, only ten bucks,” said Blakney.