After the success of last year’s inaugural Park in the Park Car Show, the organizers are looking at even bigger and better event this year.“Last year’s event was awesome,” said Lawrence Morgan, who co-organizes Park in the Park with wife Melodie Davidoff. “We had 110 cars registered last year. Everyone that came all said they had such a great time last year that they were coming back this year. We figure we’ll have double if not triple the number of cars this year.”Morgan said they’ve had a number of new cars register for this year already from places such as Prince George and Fort St. John.“We’ve also got one coming from Sitka, Alaska,” he said. “They’ve confirmed they’re bringing their 1968 AMX with a blown big block, 800 horse power.”The car show is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 17 from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. and will be back at City Park.“The location was great last year,” said Morgan. “Everybody just loved it. We ended up with an eight page write-up in the Beaumont-Chevelle magazine about how great Grand Forks was.”The inaugural event came from a suggestion to Morgan from councillor Bob Kendal.“I’ve been holding a barbecue at my house for the last 10 years,” said Morgan. “We invite the Beaumont-Chevelle car club because we’re members. Kendal came up to me one time and said, ‘Why don’t you put on a car show because you’ve got these cars coming up here anyway?’ So we said okay, and it’s just boomed.”Although Morgan and Davidoff are avid members of the Beaumont-Chevelle club and have several cars, the show is open to all makes and models.“We’re working on a guy from Bremerton, Wash. who could be bringing up his 1940 Willie’s Gasser. It’s a $250,000 car,” said Morgan. “We’ve also got some high end builds coming down from William’s Lake and Quesnel. We’ve got a 1967 Acadian coming with close to $200,000 into the car.”There is also expected to be many more vendors selling everything from food to jewellery.“We’ve also got plenty of vintage trailers coming from Vancouver Island,” he said. “We’ve got a category for them. We have possibly a whole bunch of vintage trailers coming from Washington State who will be staying at City Park in the campground.”Another big park of the weekend is the annual car cruise on Saturday which goes from Morgan’s house around the North Fork and back.“We’re going to go behind Extra Foods through to Silver Kettle to give those folks a chance to see the cars,” said Morgan.Any extra money the car show makes beyond covering their expenses will be donated to either the local food bank, SPCA or Habitat for Humanity, said Morgan.Another big draw this year is the appearance of the Blues Brothers and their Bluesmobile.“It’s a 1970 Polara with big, huge speakers and they just pull up in the park and start ‘giving ‘er’,” said Morgan. “They’re awesome.”

Grand Forks Gazette