The Langley Good Times Cruise-In has been running for almost 20 years, but in its second year in Aldergrove, the annual car show is still tweaking its formula to meet the new location.
Cruise-In president Wayne Patterson said the group’s directors and volunteers have been ticking items off their checklists throughout the year, securing permits and meeting goals for the big car show.
“We’ve got it down to a pretty good science,” he said.
But the new location means more changes from 2017 to 2018 than the show typically saw in its last few years in Langley City. Feedback from last year has resulted in a host of changes.
The location of the entire show has been shifted slightly to the west this year, with the classic cars, hot rods, and custom creations displayed between 264th Street to 272nd Street.
The mile-long car show will mean less of Aldergrove’s core is shut down, and organizers are also planning a more dense arrangement of the cars along the four-lane stretch of highway.
The majority of cars on Fraser Highway will be in three or possibly four rows, giving viewers more cars in a smaller area this year.
The Concours d’Elegance, a showcase for stock autos from the early 20th century, will be placed on a grassy area near the highway, directly across from the Royal Canadian Legion’s Aldergrove branch.
The In & Out Burger truck will be in the parking lot of the ReMax real estate office next door to the Legion as well.
The two entertainment stages have been shifted in location closer to the new center of action.
With the second year in Aldergrove, it’s clear there’s been some shuffling of who is taking part.
Cruise-In director Chris Cowx said they’ve heard more happy than unhappy responses to the move, though some car owners and viewers preferred the Langley City spot.
But the change has also definitely brought in some new vehicles.
“We’ve noticed that there’s a lot more registrations from east of Aldergrove,” said Cowx, with Abbotsford and Chilliwack sending more vehicles than in past years.
With a week to go before the Cruise-In, Cowx said that registration was about average for the car show. The test will be the weather on the day of the event.
“Last year we saw a dip because of the rain,” he noted.
For the Cruise-In, this is a year of settling into a new home and continuing a new tradition.
But for Patterson, it’s a year of winding down.
After five years as president and 12 years overall as a volunteer, he’s stepping down.
Patterson, a “muscle car guy,” will stay on until the board chooses a new president at the end of the year.
He’s also likely to remain involved, as he’s been since the start in the late 1990s.
“I had a car in the very first one,” Patterson recalled.