The 128 extraordinary vintage vehicles on display drew a crowd of several hundred people to the South Cariboo Rec Centre on June 8, despite the impending wet weather.
After two years in the planning, the Vintage Car Club of Canada’s (VCCC) Canada 150 Tour idea, which was actually born 50 years ago, patterned after the first vintage vehicle tour in celebration of the country’s Centennial in 1967.
Now, in honour of Canada’s 150th anniversay of confederation, their tour brought them through the South Cariboo for a shiny, show-stopping event hosted by the 100 Mile Cruzers Car Club.
The VCCC, based in the Lower Mainland where the tour began, had members from as far away as Alberta join the nine-day tour with original cars and trucks from the 1950s-60s, in particular.
Others included the oldest vintage vehicle, a 1930s Model A Ford (owned by Gerry and Marilyn Gerow), and newer cars like the 1972 Chevrolet Corvette owned by Engel and Audrey Bouwmeester, all of whom reside in Kamloops.
Special guest speaker Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett, a current and a founding member of the 100 Mile Cruzers Car Club, welcomed 78 vintage vehicles and 166 members of the VCCC to their show and shine, along with almost 50 Cruzers vehicles and 40 members, for a shining, colourful, historical and rare display of patriotism.
Cruzers president Jim Williscroft later expressed the club’s pleasure that the day had gone so well, from their local club assisting in tours that morning, the positive public response and great turnout at the car show, and then the next morning at the 108 Heritage Site, where so many of the VCCC cars were as well despite it being an optional tour stop.
Many of the VCCC tour participants drove their vehicles, while others trailered them in, for reasons like being unable to manage the 50 km/h speed requirements on major highways.
Williscroft estimates about 400 members of the public turned out along with the more than 200 car club members, both touring and local combined.
The Cruzers are just one of 22 VCCC chapters with a total of 1,200 members in British Columbia alone, he adds.
The Vintage Car Club originated in B.C., in the late 1950s, and that [Centennial] tour they did was one of the things that really put them on the map – then they started getting chapters across Canada.”
All the Show and Shine money raised is going to good causes, including the Heart & Stroke Big Bike, where the Cruzers handed already over $516 from the event.
He believes the overall local total will be somewhere around $1,500, but this was still being counted at press time.
“We have two more [good causes], but we have to finalize our numbers first.”
One recipient will be the 100 Mile Wranglers hockey team, while another is a local member who is struggling after the recent passing of their spouse, he explains.
“We’d really like to thank our 40 volunteers who really ‘worked their butts off’.”
The Cruzers are also grateful to The Front Porch band for donating their great bluegrass musical performance at the event, the RCMP 100 Mile House detachment for “stepping up” to guide the surge of traffic afterward to safely exit the parking area, and to Save-on-Foods, who donated virtually all of the food cooked for the crowds and the 
clubs.
Dignitaries at the Show and Shine included Barnett, also as the Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA, who handed the local club a sign she had specially made for them recognizing their efforts over the years.
“Donna Barnett was in Victoria, she jumped on a plane, landed in Williams Lake, busted her butt to get down here to do that, and then she cooked all the hamburgers – all of them. We must give her a big kudos.”
Other dignitaries present were District of 100 Mile House Mayor Mitch Campsall, Cariboo Regional District Area H Director Margo Wagner and Area L Director Brian Coakley, he adds.
“Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Cathy McLeod was going to come, but she was in Ottawa.”
Williscroft notes the VCCC presented his Cruzers club an award later in the day, in the form of a nice plaque and a hand-carved wooden truck, in appreciation, partly because “they were extremely happy with what we did for them.”
He says both clubs’ appreciation certainly goes also to Canlan Ice Sports general manager Josh Dickerson for his hospitality in welcoming them all inside and setting up tables and chairs for their meal when the weather turned and a cold rainstorm hit.
