Editor: I see yet another story (Cruise-In plans public meeting by Dan Ferguson, May 25) in which the Cruise-in seems to knock Langley City Hall, and it goes unchallenged. This is getting a bit much.
Cruise In is near and dear to me. Like most, I truly wish the show was in the City, but it is not going to be.
It is now likely altered forever. Langley City Council and staff together were an extraordinary and gracious host for some 20 years of Langley Cruise-In, and a wonderful ally, absorbing a bundle in expenses to make the car show happen. How does this not get remembered?
The policing expenses presented to Cruise-In this year are extreme, especially considering the benefit of the show to the City, but any sane person would ask why is the City all of a sudden taking a hard line.
I suspect that a more collaborative approach would have resulted in the expenses being minimized, as happened in years past. Nonetheless, that is the past, and the September show has found a welcoming new home in Aldergrove, and Langley City has carried on, too. It is all a matter of sound business decisions that had to be made by both parties in order for there to be any show at all.
‘Tis a shame.
Now we have a call to boycott another show in Langley City in August. This is troubling and a little heavy-handed. I would hope our citizens/enthusiasts simply throw their support behind both of these shows and any others. Again, I am pro Langley Cruise-In so I may be biased.
Being a certified car nut, I say let’s have a car show every two weeks.
The local car show circuit is a culture and event calendar to embrace, and all local shows have a solid history of supporting one another to the greater good.
It is concerning that Cruise-in is trying to polarize and create tension over another show that is on a different date and in a different city. Cruise-in left Langley City. Time to be gracious and stand behind your decision (ironically the classiest statement you can make to Langley City).
A little bit of show competition likely will not hurt. It’s all good, friends. And for Petes sake before history repeats itself and someone gets offended in your new host city, stop regularly referring to Aldergrove as “…less than ideal.” At this rate, in a few years I am going to have to drive to Chilliwack or farther, to go to the Langley Cruise-In.
Martin Brown,
Langley
(Editor’s note, since the May 25 article referenced by the writer, a representative for the Cruise-In committee has denied the organization advised car clubs to boycott the Langley City event, which has since been cancelled)
