Inside a garage, locked up behind a door and tucked under a sheet is no place for a slick ride to be.
Especially this weekend when the Lakers Car Club hosts its 18th Annual Spring Roundup and Show and Shine in downtown Williams Lake.
Wayne Potter, president of the Lakers Car Club, wants everyone with a vehicle they’re proud of to enter it in the show, which takes place this Sunday on Third Avenue starting at 10 a.m.
“If you’re shy, or scared, or don’t think your car is good enough to come to this show, you’re wrong,” Potter said. “This show is a show and shine. It’s not an elite car show. It’s for the people and it’s for everyone who has a car. Bring it out and drive that thing.
“Come and join us. We’re all car guys and we’d love to see your car, and the people of Williams Lake would love to see your car.”
Sunday’s Show and Shine, expected to be accompanied by beautiful, sunny weather, will be preceded by several Saturday events put on by the Lakers Car Club.
Saturday in the A&W parking lot at 1 p.m. pre-registration for the Show and Shine and registration for the Roundup Poker Run begins.
“That poker run gets the cars around town so people will see them out in the residential areas,” said Paul Christianson, secretary with the Lakers Car Club.
At 5 p.m. drivers, and their vehicles, will meet at the Stampede Grounds for a steak barbecue. Potter said everyone in the community is invited to attend.
“We’ve got a steak dinner, chicken dinner, baked potato, the whole works,” Potter said. “For $15, it’s a 10-ounce steak — you can’t go wrong with that price — and on top of that you get to mingle with all the car guys.”
Following the barbecue, at 7 p.m., drivers will take their cars up to Thunder Mountain Speedway to be introduced during the track’s opening event of the season.
“It’s controlled chaos [at Thunder Mountain Speedway],” Potter said. “Thunder Mountain has provided that for us in a very safe manner. They’ve allowed us to do smoke shows, which is great, and they’ve allowed us to go around the race track a few times.
“At the Stampede Grounds everyone has the same comment about it: ‘We’ve been to car shows but we’ve never done anything like that.’”
Christianson added the show’s success can be attributed to many generous community sponsors and the hard work put in by the Lakers Car Club over the years.
“One show doesn’t make it,” Christianson said. “We’ve built on every consecutive show and they’ve all gotten better.”
Potter added several groups in the community will be coming out to help entertain.
“We’ve got the Lake City Derby Girls coming down this year, we’ve got the Stampede rodeo queen as well as the princesses and this year’s contestants and we’ve brought the Old Time Fiddlers in to do some entertaining this year, which should work out very well for us,” Potter said.
Additionally on Sunday a Ladies Only Poker Run will be taking place, hosted by the Williams Lake Central Business Area Improvement Association.
Potter said the Lakers Car Club expects around 200 cars to be registered in Sunday’s Show and Shine with about 50 per cent of those registrants coming from out of town.
“A lot of people come from the U.S., northern B.C., Alberta and the Lower Mainland,” Potter said.
At 3:30 p.m. Sunday 66 trophies in 50 classes will be presented. The cost to register a car in the Show and Shine is $10 and includes raffle draws, a goodie bag, door prizes and dash plaques for the first 200 entries.
“We’re also going to be raffling a 1972 Mercedes Benz that we’ve spruced up donated to us by Chris Montoya,” Christianson said, noting Sunday will be the first day of the raffle.
Second prize in the raffle is a pressure washer, donated by Canadian Tire, while third prize is a portable camp fire, donated by CanWest Propane.
Raffle winners will be chosen during the Williams Lake and District Credit Union’s 60th anniversary celebration in October.
