When the organizers of the Brookswood Community Car Show said it would happen “rain or shine,” they weren’t kidding.
Brookswood residents Angela Hollister and Marlee Grant were both laughing as they explained how they had washed Hollister’s lovingly restored 1994 Ford pickup truck for the show, while it was raining, the night before, only to have the rain continue pouring down on the actual day of the event, Sunday, May 26.
“[We worked on it] in the rain yesterday, all day, and it’s still raining,” Grant grinned from beneath a sheltering umbrella.
Hollister was determined to show her prized F-150.
“I bought it on a Gulf island a few years ago, on Texada Island, and I’ve been restoring it back to, hopefully, original [condition]. That’s my goal,” Hollister told the Langley Advance Times.
”I always wanted to have a Ford F-150, ever since I was a kid.”
They had some advice for people attending rainy car shows.
“Bring an umbrella and some warm clothes,” Hollister recommended.
“Layers,” Grant remarked.
Organizer Scott Strudwick was undeterred by the downpour.
“Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate this year, but we always have a plan for that,”Strudwick said,
Vehicles were relocated to the school parking lot rather than risk damaging the grass-covered sports field that usually serves as the show site.
‘We still have people come in and showing up and we’re expecting see a bunch of families later,” he said.
“We have great indoor events here as well for kids. So we’re used to it. We plan for it. We live in the West Coast.”
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Steve Williams was setting up portable awnings next to his classic 1957 Chevy ambulance.
“This car is an original B.C. ambulance came out of a small community called Essendale or Riverview as it’s known today – the provincial psychiatric facility at Riverview,” he explained.
Williams, a member of the Pharaohs car club, explained that he doesn’t correct kids when they get excited at the sight of his ambulance and incorrectly link it to the Ghostbusters movie.
“Ghostbusters is a ‘69 Cadillac,” Williams smiled.
“This, of course is a ‘57 Chevy but they’re very similar and kids don’t know the difference, and they are all over this, calling it the Ghostbusters machine, and I let them run with it.”
An online posting by organizers declared the event a success despite the rain.
“We were able to raise thousands of dollars which will all be going to Brookswood.secondary and includes two new scholarships,” it said. ” Here’s to even bigger and better things next year.”
Funds raised by the Brookswood car show will be used to support the school breakfast program, as well as music and applied skills programs (specifically automotive and trades).
Brookswood Secondary is home to approximately 1,100 students in grades 8 through 12.
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