Car shows are a great way to meet people and show the general public all the hard work and effort people have done on their vintage and hobby cars. Plus lots of people like going to car shows. While its a great idea to say you will have a car show, when it comes down to the details of planning and running a car show, sometimes you are not sure where to start. Here are some things we have learned over the years to try and help you out:
| Visit a Show | Take a look at our events calendar, and go to one or more car shows, see how they are run and talk to the organizers at the show. There are usually plenty of shows every weekend for you to choose from. |
| Tell the Council | To list your event on our website, visit our event submission form. Also try and come to one of our monthly council meetings and tell us about your show, bring some flyers, and meet us. Monthly council meeting schedule and location information. |
| Stand Out | Car shows are becoming a very popular way to have fundraisers and interest events for many organizations. You want to do your best to run a great show that is interesting and will attract both participants and spectators. You can do this with free food, sponsors can give out coupons to participants, having awards or prizes that you give out, do competitions at the show, or anything fun and exciting for participants or the public. |
| For a Great Cause | If your show is benefiting a charity or non profit organization, make sure and highlight that so people know you are doing a good thing for the community. You can tell us exactly which organization you are benefitting on our events submission form. |
| Questions About the Show or Registration | If you want to list your contact information so people can ask you questions or register for the show, have someone willing to answer phone calls / emails promptly listed as the contact. People will usually expect quick responses to their questions / registration if you make your information available. |
| Conflicts with Other Shows | Decide on the when and where. Look at our events calendar and see which other shows are going on that weekend to make sure you do not conflict with any other major events that might draw people away from your show. Weekends of course, like Saturday or Sunday afternoon are prime times, holidays are also a time when people like to come out. |
| Logistics | How do you want to run your event? Do you need registration forms? Do you want people to pre-register? When is the registration time? How do you want to work payments (if any)? How and where to you want people to line up and park? Will you have a ballot to hand out so people can vote for awards? Will you provide any water or shade for people? |
| Make a Flyer | Having an easy to read attractive flyer with clear information will get peoples attention, and will let them know you are working hard on this show. You can hand this flyer out to everyone you know and post it up on community event boards around town. You can send us a copy of the flyer when submitting your event. |
| Location and Advertising | If you don’t already have one, find a good location near your target audience on our places to have car shows page. Take your flyer to nearby local businesses and have them promote your event. Take time to talk to the businesses around your show’s location, they gain business from you having your show there. Make a Facebook page for the show and have all your friends like it. |
| Registration / Dash Plaques | Have a registration table setup early. Ask for peoples e-mail or mailing address when they register so you can keep them up to date on next years show. Make some dash plaques for all of the cars that come, so everyone can have their name, the year, make and model of their car as well as any special features listed and easy to read for everyone walking by to see. |
| How Many Cars | Set a reasonable goal of how many people you want to come to your show. If you have limited space its good to state that up front and have people pre-register. Theres a spot to tell us how many cars you expect on our event submission form. |
| Theme your Show | If you want to limit the types of cars that come to your show to a particular style, decade or brand, try and contact the clubs who have those cars to make sure they know you are doing a show which highlights them. You can find a listing of our clubs in the directory. |
| Thank Everyone | For each person that brings a car to your show, make sure to talk with all of them and say thank you for coming, it will mean alot to them and will keep them coming back next year. |
| Name Your Show | Come up with a fun or creative name for your car show that people will remember. And if you are not feeling creative, just say “(x) Annual (your organization’s name) Car Show” |
*** want to add your own ideas to this page? Please tell us about them on our contact us page.
