Crowne Isle is taking its car show on the road.
The third annual Romeo St. Jacques Memorial Classic Cars on the Green has been reimagined because of COVID-19.
That means it’ll be a car show on wheels, in more ways than one.
Tomorrow afternoon, a convoy of more than 200 entries will parade through valley neighbourhoods instead of gathering on site at Courtenay’s Crowne Isle Resort, like they’ve done in the past.
The cruise route is here.
Crowne Isle general manager, Bill Kelly, says it should be quite a treat for classic car buffs.
“These vehicles, as we all know, they’re pretty cool looking and they’re meant to move, and they’re meant to move fast most times, and we’ll be able to see them in action,” he said.
You’ll see classic vehicles restricted to 1970s and older muscle cars, hot rods, and customs.
Kelly said there was a real danger of the car show being cancelled because of the pandemic.
“We were actually in close contact with the local health authorities,” Kelly said. “From day one we’ve always made sure that we can keep everybody safe, and there was a time that we were considering cancelling.
But brainstorming and just thinking of new, innovative ways to try to get things done at this time, with COVID, brought us to this conclusion. The whole Comox Valley now can enjoy it while self distancing and sitting on their front lawn and enjoying the sunshine.”
However, the virus did cause some collateral damage.
“Unfortunately, we did lose a number of vehicles because of the border being closed,” Kelly said. “We had quite a number of vehicles coming from the U.S. but we do have some vehicles coming from the Lower Mainland and Interior and most are from the island, and we’ve got over 200 cars signed up for the cruise on Saturday.”
It’s a fundraiser for the Comox Valley Child Development Association and you can donate here.
Last year’s show raised $3,577 for the CVCDA.
There is no entry fee required for the car owners. “They provide the vehicle for us and we thank them for that, and they provide them a nice complimentary dinner. Everything is done by donation so we’d appreciate anybody who could donate to a great cause.”
Kelly said the CVCDA is a worthy organization to support. “Just a great cause within the Comox Valley, going to the youth and youth development; it’s just a great cause that we’ve decided to use over the last three years.”
Staging areas will be set up in the Crown Isle community with 50 or fewer cars at each, with a set start time at 3:00pm to begin the convoy through Comox, Courtenay, Cumberland, and all the way out to Union Bay.
First, though, they’ll cruise past the Crown Isle entrance, with a livestream of the cars driving by.
Once the cars finish the route, they’ll return to Crown Isle for a complimentary to-go dinner to enjoy on the grounds or take away.
