A car show that memorializes a Surrey murder victim is on the move from Cloverdale to Langley.
The annual Bradley McPherson Memorial Show & Shine remembers the man killed at a Newton house party in 2011.
The charity gathering, previously known as Burnouts in the Sky, has been held at Cloverdale Fairgrounds over the past six summers.
On Sunday, event organizers announced on Facebook that they were moving it to Kwantlen First Nation land in Fort Langley, at 23690 Gabriel Lane, just off Glover Road.
“We have a beautiful big grass field for our (cars), trucks and motorcycles to set up,” the event post noted. “We are so excited with this new location and all it has to offer right on the Fraser River and minutes walk to downtown Fort Langley as well as Brae Campsite right next door for any out of town guests bringing in their cars to the show.”
The event date this summer is Saturday, Aug. 17.
Last November, event organizers said they were searching for a new location for the car show, and also sought to find a new name for it, to avoid a perception of “young hot-rodders being silly” at the gathering.
At the time, Mike MacSorley, general manager of Cloverdale Rodeo & Exhibition Association, said the nature of the event has caused some problems at the fairgrounds.
“I have had some issues with the way they conduct their show,” MacSorley told the Now-Leader in November. “I don’t want to get into it but they are getting better every year, which is great, but it’s been a five-year process of them not doing burnouts – we don’t want burnouts on our lot.”
The event, which has included live music and a beer garden in addition to close to 200 vehicles on display, raises money for a scholarship in McPherson’s name. The money is reserved for high school students who struggle with attention-deficit disorder, like McPherson did, and also for budding mechanics.
The event features the kind of cars and trucks loved and appreciated by McPherson, who was fond of doing burnouts in a charcoal-coloured truck he called “Emma.”
At age 28, McPherson was shot to death in the early hours of Christmas Eve in 2011. At a house party in Newton, he confronted a male guest who was harassing a female party-goer. Last April, Russell Bidesi was given a life sentence for the crime, and isn’t eligible for parole for 15 years.
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