Growing from a small Rod Run for a half-dozen enthusiasts to a 400-vehicle parade of classic cars, the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Rolling Arts has become one of Western Canada’s largest gatherings of vintage vehicle collectors. Comprising a “rod run” (parade of vehicles), a “show ‘n’ shine,” and a day of drag racing, this year’s festival is expected to draw more entries than ever before from across North America. For the first time, the event will be held during the August long weekend, August 3 – 5.
During the week preceding the festival, families arrive on the Coast in their beautifully-restored vintage vehicles. Organized by the 120-member Coasters Car Club and the Sunshine Coast Drag Racing Association, the family-friendly event may draw up to 3,000 visitors to the Coast to participate, dream, and drool. The Festival of the Rolling Arts kicks off with a rally on the baseball field at Hackett Park on August 3. As they arrive, participating vehicles are checked in and owners are given information about the variety of activities “geared” to enthusiasts of the classic car. That evening, the vehicles will parade in a stately “rod run”up the Sunshine Coast Highway to Redrooffs Road and Halfmoon Bay, returning to a private corn roast in West Sechelt.
Saturday, the community rallies to Cowrie Street. Closed to through traffic, the street is a kaleidoscope of colour, with painstakingly restored cars and trucks lining its full lenth - hoods up to display impossibly clean and gleaming V-8 engines. These are proud products of a time when gas was sold at 10 cents per gallon (and the attendant pumped it, cleaned the windshield, checked the oil and tire air pressure as part of the bargain).
Organizers Rick Pearson and Lloyd Bingley are particularly pleased with the family-friendly nature of the event. The cars carry a fascination for all ages, and “working on the car” also works to close the generation gap.
Normally, the family-oriented nature of this “car culture” event meshes with the Sunshine Coast Arts Council’s Summer Craft Fair on the second weekend of August. This year, to avoid conflict with the Writers Festival, the Festival of the Rolling Arts moved up a week and the “Arts from the ‘Hood” craft fair moved up with it. The massive Hackett Park fair, with over 100 participants, happens the following weekend along with the Writers Fest.
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“A lot of Festival participants like the variety of events,” said Lloyd Bingley. “Families like to walk over to the Craft Fair and shop.” A smaller show ‘n’ shine on Sunday, August 5 at the Garden Bay Hotel is organized and sponsored by Roger Grypiuk of Advance Forklift – another classic car enthusiast. This alternative to the traditional Sunday drag races at the Sechelt airport features Eddy Molyski and the Midnite Eagles jamming at the Garden Bay Pub.
This year, some of the noisiest, fastest, meanest machines will be laying rubber on the runway at the Sechelt airport as part of Drag Race Day. Visitors and participants stroll among the race cars discussing the finer points of multi-chambered carbeurators and other vehicular esoterica to a background whine of engines and screaming tires. Again, this event draws families – even kids participate in custom-built dragsters.
Each of these events raises funds that are channeled back into the communities: annual bursaries for students entering the automotive trades, purchase of equipment for the Coast’s volunteer fire departments, support for the food banks and the Pender Harbour Medical Centre.
In 2004, The Festival of the Rolling Arts was chronicled in Cruisin’ TV’s debut DVD, Return to Sleepy Hollow. Featuring archival film footage and extensive festival coverage, this light overview of the vintage car culture is available at many Sunshine Coast locations and online at www.carshowpictures.com
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