never seen so many people in one place in my life, except at bc place stadium

It was a lot nicer and more cars last year. And it was free. I paid three bucks and got rained on this year. Fewer cars, still the same cars. If I wanted to go to a pizza joint I would have had to pay three bucks to get on the street with said pizza joint. I heard the band. Glad they din't practice in the garage next door. I will go next year only if it is free. Same old. Same old.

Piss off Harbinger,everyone else had a good time, me included. I got to see and meet a lot of good people that I had not seen in a great while and it was a good time.. Can't wait till next years show.

wrinkledawg, I agree with you. This is a great event for families and many men and their families make a day of it and look forward to it every year, not only to meet old friends they don't see very often, but also to just enjoy the day! Kudos to the Cruisin Classics for a bang up job - they must put in thousands of hours to make this project work! As for the admission, what the hell is $3? If I'm not mistaken, some of this money goes to a bursary for a young person wanting to go into a trade. Oh yea, harbinger,did you volunteer? quit your bitchin-don't go!

Before you dump too much on Harbinger, you should know that since the Downtown Businessman's Association took over the show, they raised the cost for entering your car from $5 to $10 and the cost for spectators from $2 to $3. ( And I'm sure that the commercial booths aren't free )

The car club that put the show on gave bursaries and still does, but I don't know if the DBA does. Last year I believe 15,000 to 20,000 people attended the show, but many walked in without paying. This year they had the entrances set up much tighter for collecting.

I believe that the show has lost its original focus from being a great family day to being a money grab.

The British Car Club show at Princess Auto on May 25th was free for car owners and spectators and had well over 100 cars.

I'vee attended many car shows, Kamloops, Vernon, Cache Creek, Nelson and so on. Pr Geo is one of the very few who charge admission for spectators. All stores are open and buisnesses do well during the shows. Nelson even has a poker walk to the various buisnesses. Too bad everything was closed in Pr Geo.

"..the 1970 Cougar convertible shown above.." was called an Eliminator. Had not even heard of that name before.

Harbinger.. Wind is free. Why don't you buy a kite and go fly it. Oh ya, sometimes they give free pizza samples away at Costco.

As usual, PG misses the promotional boat. In most cities, an event like the Show & Shine would have been incentive for business to be open on the Sunday. A sidewalk sale or something, at the very least. Its a shame to have all of those wandering pedestrians right there, and all the doors locked. And Harbinger, oh my! Fussy and cheap, how charming. Perhaps staying in and alphabetizing the spices would have been more pleasing for you?

As a downtown merchant I feel I have to respond to some of the comments here. The positive comments are encouraging and appreciated. The Downtown "Businessman's"
Association (presided over by a woman) is actually called Downtown Prince George Business Association. It partners with the car club and DPG provides the majority of the funding and much of the manpower to pull off this event. The car club benefits from the event as this is a fundraiser for them. An event of this size takes $1000s of dollars and in the past it has lost money. This year had a professional event planner bring many new attractions and activities for families, hardly losing its family focus, such as pony rides, the soap box derby, constructing wooden cars with the Art Gallery, all requiring a modest admission fee.
A money grab??? More like a break even event for the enjoyment of Prince George citizens. A business owner can't be forced open for an event like this, but those who were smart enough to do so had a great day. As a shop owner I look at this event as a PR day, not as an extra sales day. It was a pleasure to meet all the people who thoroughly enjoyed themselves. All of the people with "better ideas" should phone Downtown Prince George early next year and volunteer their time and ideas before the event, not after.

I hope it made money, It is a good way for people to get out with the family, and have quality time together. Three bucks, won't even get you 1/2 a gallon of gas. The family goes down there,its $30 with a snack and a drink. That is worth the investment.

We need more events like this to draw out the people, get more community involvement, instead of staying home and arranging our spices in alphabetical order.

I arrange my spices by smell......

;-)

Harbinger is one of those who displays his "for sale" cars at the exhibition grounds parking lot on Ospika every weekend .... it is free ...

Absolutely agree with many who have said we need more events like this. I don't understand the mentality behind compaining about a $3 entry charge, it seems more than fair to me. Nothing's 'free' people, and organizing and putting on an event like this takes money.

If there were downtown businesses that were closed during an event like this, they missed a huge opportunity to not only promote themselves, but the downtown in general.

The show and shine is trying to make money?
I always thought it was a place for the proud people who own/build these excellent machines to display them to the public, a place they could gather together to brag about their machines, to show them off.
Why would they be turning the show and shine into a money making event?

It costs thousands of dollars to put on this event?
Who is it exactly that is "losing " money?

What costs thousands of dollars and whos pocket is this money coming out of?

Why does everything always have to be about making money?

Dear lostfaith,
Not one comment (positive or negative) by anyone on this site, stated that the event had to make money. This is a "break even" event paid for by car registrations, business owner donations, sponsorships and ticket sales.

I'll list everything I can think of that would add to the total cost of the event:
The main stage, tent covering it, and all the chairs.
Renting gates to block off all the streets for pedestrian and show car safety.
Permits to the city to close the streets for the day.
Insurance for liability.
Advertising: radio, TV, newspaper, posters
Event Coordinator fees.
Garbage pickup before and after event.
Porta-potties.
Generators.

and all the other things people don't think about when they show up to an event expecting to get in for free.
etc. etc. etc.

Downtown, I wouldn't worry too much about the naysayers. Judging from their comments, I'll bet most of them have never organized anything in their lives.

Great event, and for 3 bucks it's a bargain.

Dear Downtownmerchant
You said no one on this site stated that the event had to make money.

You said "The car club benefits from the event as this is a fundraiser for them."

He speaks added "I hope it made money"

Looks to me like it is being suggested they want to make money.

I am all for the show and shine, it's great. But reading the comments here brought up some questions in my mind and I asked them.
The first question I asked was, The show and shine is trying to make money?

Another point
I never said anyone here had said that the event had to make money, you did.

So for next year all those people who think the event should be pulled off for free I gladly await your offer to organize the event, run it and you know what, you will still get people coming down on you.

I had nothing to do with the event on the weekend but as a volunteer I organize many events that people in PG come to. Some we have to charge, some are free, some work out great and yikes sometimes things do go wrong. I have yet to walk away from an event with everything perfect, but you do take valid criticism and factor it into your next event.

I thought about a comeback with which to justify and defend my opinion, but then again,it was only my opinion. So why bother?. And this is "OPINION" 250, ain't it? Emphasis on the word, "OPINION". Cheers!

Just as an aside, I sure hope this Show and Shine doesn't eventually go the way of that ill fated thing of the past called the Vanderhoof Airshow. I'd hate to see that happen.

As a father, my boys look forward to taking me downtown to the Show & Shine each year. I get a chance to talk about many of the cars I grew up with and some of the features of many of them. Where else are they going to have an opportunity to be exposed to a part of my past? I love going and I encourage everyone involved. I will never complain about an entrance fee to offset the costs of putting this show on. I have to agree that those who complain about the cost, probably have never had to organize an event in their lives and have no idea. Oh well, I liked it and will continue to support it. Chester