One of North America's largest charity car shows is right here in Langley, annually held every September for more than 25 years.
The Langley Good Times Cruise-In Society began with two sisters who wanted to start up a small-ish car show to help local charities and draw some attention to Langley businesses.
Helen and Leslie Stoddart ran the Langley City Antique Mall, and after seeing the vintage cars some of their customers drove, they decided to organize an annual show in Langley City.
With the backing of the Downtown Langley Merchants Association and the City of Langley, on the evening of Sept. 6, 1997, they blocked off Fraser Highway from 203 Street to 206 Street to host the cars for the first Langley Good Times Cruise-In, which donated proceeds to the Langley Lions Club.
Long-serving president Riccardo Sestito joined the society in the car show's second year, 1998, after attending the first show.
He recalls the car show quickly becoming a major event by year three.
The all-volunteer organization kept growing as well, adding more directors to handle the workload. Local car clubs came on board and helped with a great deal of the volunteer work on the days of the event, later joined by volunteers and members of service groups that received the annual donations from the show.
More media attention and car world celebrities found out about the event. In 'N' Out Burger arrived in 2003, and has become a permanent and popular presence.
In 2017, the show moved to downtown Aldergrove, where it has continued ever since. Fraser Highway is closed for the day, between 264 and 272 Streets, as more than 1,000 cars line the roadway, and tens of thousands of spectators and car enthusiasts show up to admire the vehicles.
This year's 26th car show will be held on Saturday, Sept. 6.
Sestito noted that Langley is growing and losing its small-town feel, but Cruise-In remains a staple in the community with more than $1.6 million in proceeds donated back into local charities through all the years.
Some shows that happen elsewhere in Langley during the year include the British Columbia Corvette Club, which relocated from the North Shore to the front lawn of historic Fort Langley a few years ago.
Others are the Fort Langley Car Show, Aldergrove's Country Car Show, and Robert Recknagel Memorial Show n' Shine, held at the George Preston Rec Centre to honour the memory of the late car collector.
There's also the Fort Langley’s Model A Sunday and Aldergrove’s Country Car Show, not to mention Vettes at the Fort in Fort Langley mid-summer, and the Aldergrove Fair Show and Shine.
D.W. Poppy Secondary's annual car show inspired other schools to host their own car show fundraisers to help with school purchases, including Brookswood,
H.D. Stafford, and R.E. Mountain. Plus there's the Langley Area Mostly British Motoring Club’s annual St. George’s British Motoring Show, that takes place one
Sunday in April each year, in front of the Fort Langley Community Hall. And, there's many, many more.
"There was barely any car shows out here, and now you're getting multiples in a single day from May on," Sestito commented.
Admission to Cruise-In is free for spectators, although donations to local charities of choice are appreciated.
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