Is this the beginning of the end for car shows on public property?

Article content

The Early Ford V8 Club has canceled what should have been the 37th annual car show at Hougen Park in Abbotsford. Club president Les Henderson finally threw in the towel on August 8, two weeks before the August 21st event was to take place, after delays and a myriad of requirements and restrictions being imposed by the City of Abbotsford.

Article content

After two years of not being able to hold the event due to pandemic restrictions, the club was anxious to welcome up to 700 people and bring together an estimated 350 special interest cars, including old Fords. The first All-Ford picnic was held in the park in 1983 and it became the club’s signature annual event.

The club has always been issued a facility use license by the City of Abbotsford to use Hougen Park and applied last October. But the club learned in June, for the first time, Abbotsford required a Special Events permit from its Parks, Recreation and Cultural department. There were a lot of requirements to fulfill before a permit would be granted. These included a meeting with the City of Abbotsford City Parks, Recreation and Culture representative on site at Hougen Park, a meeting with the Abbotsford Police Department, a meeting with the Abbotsford Fire Department and a meeting with Fraser Health because the Sardis Kiwanis Club has a food trailer at the annual event. In addition, the club needed to present a security plan which included dividing the park into quadrants and appointing a monitor for each quadrant. There had to be a missing child plan as well.

Article content

For the first time, the club was prohibited from staking down the three tents it uses for registration, selling T-shirts and serving corn. Instead, the club was required to provide a pile of sandbags for anyone bringing their own canopies or tents. This despite hundreds of sandbags near the site left over from last year’s flooding that could have been borrowed and put back. And the club would have to post no parking signs on both sides of Cole Road which runs alongside Hougen Park, even though there is parking there on every other day.

In the past, the City of Abbotsford would supply garbage cans and the club would pile up all the garbage from the event and city workers would haul it away.  Now the club is required to sort all the garbage on tarps to separate cardboard plates, Styrofoam cups and food waste and haul it away for recycling. The Kiwanis Club that sold food from a trailer on site would have to do the same. Abbotsford also wanted assurance that the DJ has a So-Can license to pay for music rights.

Article content

As a stipulation of the permit, the club was required to have trained medical personnel on site and have always used St. John’s Ambulance. This year, the service booked in June couldn’t find enough volunteers to staff the event and canceled their agreement with the club on August 7.

After months of dealing with spiraling demands and a mountain of paperwork, club president Henderson finally canceled the event after there was no response to numerous messages left at the City of Abbotsford for a call back from the Parks Recreation and Culture employees.

“I get upset just talking about it,” he says of the months of back and forth to get a permit to use Hougen Park. “For a club with 57 members, this is just ridiculous. Every year, it’s something different and now, with the special events permit, this is all new. Not having our calls returned on top of this led to the decision to cancel our car show after 37 years.”

Article content

Long-time club secretary Neva Ledlin says the club has had many phone calls since the show cancellation notice went out, including an 81-year-old man from Penticton who has never missed the event in 36 years.

“I feel very sorry for the local vendors who are losing income,” Neva says. “We are volunteers organizing a community event. Why has this become so difficult?”

This is not the only car event that has been moved or canceled. The annual Mill Lake Cruise-in scheduled for July was canceled after Abbotsford turned the show field into a giant lawn bowling facility. The Falcon Fairlane Comet Club had to move its September 5th Labour Day Monday car show from the Langley Events Centre to Brookswood Secondary School.  The 51st Heritage Classic Car Show of the Canadian XK Jaguar Register and Canadian Classic MG Club is now being held at the Steveston Community Centre Park on August 27th after North Vancouver’s Waterfront Park became unavailable after years of holding the show there. And the Langley Good Times Cruise-In, that had a record 1,200 cars on display last year, was moved to Fraser Highway in Aldergrove after the City of Langley refused to pay for police costs. The show takes place September 10th.,

Article content

Many car shows are now being held on private property to avoid prohibitive restrictions. An example is the Historic Hot Rod Reunion of B.C., which will attract up to 1,000 special interest vehicles on August 27th at Mission Raceway Park. That facility is owned and operated by the B.C. Custom Car Association which regularly holds drag races and track events on the 86-acre site. It is the first time BCCCA, the B.C Hot Rod Association, Pacific International Street Rod Association and the Langley Loafers car club has held a joint event.

Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and partner in Peak Communicators, a Vancouver-based public relations company. [email protected]