Sunshine and warm weather seem to be a natural trigger that encourages car buffs to get out and shine up their babies after a long winter hidden away in garages and Saturday’s Cruizn the Columbia Show and Shine event at Gyro Park in Trail proved that in spades.
Over 130 entrants from as far away as Enderby came out for the West Kootenay Smoke and Steel Car Club’s annual event.
There were long cues for the Rustic Crust pizza and Filipino food stalls and the park concession staff were busy flipping burgers and frying up chips for the hungry crowd.
“This is our biggest turnout yet,” said club president, Wally Drezdoff. “I’d estimate around 2,500 to 3,000 people went through the show, a couple of vendors sold out of food because they weren’t expecting that much of a turnout.”
Judging by the smiles and looks of longing on some faces as visitors took in the rows of gleaming chrome and highly polished custom paint jobs, North American car culture is alive and well in the Kootenays.
“We’ve got 60 members in the club but a bunch more signed up at the show,” said Drezdoff. “The number one charter of the club is to have fun and people seemed to do that today.”
From the Trail Daily Times