Just as the 2020 Car Show season was about to explode, the dreadful Covid 19 (Corona Virus) hit the streets of America and overnight seemed to shut everything down. Six feet social distancing, late night curfews, stay at home mandates, and teleworking became commonly used terms in the blink of an eye. We watched as life as we know it began to shut down and everyone was stuck at home and encouraged to not participate in any activities with more than 10 folks. At first it did not seem like a big deal and we thought that it would blow over and end soon, but as the weeks and months passed, it would get worse before it got better.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the car show scene was on a fast track and had gained in popularity from 2019. Each of the past few years, the car show circuit had been seeing more and more of the younger crowd starting to discover the passion of cars and they gravitated to the shows to hang out with others who love the car scene as well.
As the hobby grew, during the peak season for shows (April - September), each weekend had multiple events and makes the choices harder than ever to decide which event you would attend. As someone who hosts and coordinates multiple shows each year, it had also been very difficult to find the perfect weekend to choose a time/date to have a car event.
Due to many county, city, and state regulations, many of our favorite car shows and events began to postpone or get cancelled. Although it was sad to see so many shows to get cancelled for the 2020 year, it was understandable due to how serious this was and how many folks were being diagnosed with Covid-19.
However, as the months rolled on, some of the car clubs and groups found creative ways to participate in events. Some clubs had car cruises (driving events) where everyone stayed in their vehicle and drove to a designated area along some amazing roads. If your group or club are not already doing these type events, they are a great way to get out and enjoy driving our cars. Other groups were allowed to have small events by following very specific rules and guidelines, but it did take a bit of creativity to pull it off.
Cars and Coffee events and Cruise-In's have also been another very popular event because you are only walking around looking at vehicles for a couple of hours.....no judging, no trophies, which allows for more social distancing.
As we move forward and get back to having some form of typical car shows, will they be different or will the host and organizers have to follow so many rules and guidelines that they drop them all together? Some of the larger events that we all know and love have already cancelled for 2020.
For example, the 2020 Woodward Dream Cruise and all of the spin-off events will not happen. This includes the memories show at the Dearborn, Michigan (World Ford Headquarters) which draws 1000's of Ford Mustangs every year.
My thoughts are that the damage has been done and some of the 2020 shows that have been cancelled this year may also suffer from the financial standpoint, I know that some events had already spent a lot of money for promotions/advertising and sponsors will not be happy about the loss. Only time will tell if the Covid-19 outbreak will have lasting effects on the car show circuit as we move back into whatever our new normal is. I would hope that the folks who are passionate about their vehicles will find a way to show them off and be creative enough to come out of this in better shape.
I also know this.....there are two things that bring people together and allow for the social, economic, racial, and age barriers to fall, that's Cars and Music. So my recommendation is, let's turn up the tunes and have a car show!!
See you down the road.....Joseph P. Scott
