Three of us here in the Northeast created and run The Castle Hill
Concours
d'Elegance. We started out with zero experience and after three years are
still
learning. We purposely organized the event to be 'different' than what is
normally
found at most car shows. Our main premis is to get cars that don't
usually show
up. I won't go into all the details as some aren't really germain to MGs.
If anyone
wants more information, contact me at acace@juno.com.
Our first event had about 50 show cars and 75 exhibition cars
(non-judged) and
less than 1k attendees. In 1997 we had grown to 90 show cars, over 200
exhibition cars and 4k attendees.
Some of the things we've tried to do and/or learned that may be useful
are listed
below.
1. Original class - We wanted to provide a place for unrestored,
preserved
cars, not trailer queens. We broke it
up into pre and post
WWII. The idea is to get folks to show
up with nice original
cars and not feel intimadated by over
restored, mega buck
vehicles.
2. People's Choice - Each entrant as well as the general public gets to
vote for
their choice of best of show.
Makes for a little bit of extra
work in counting ballots but it
seems to be very popular.
3. No Late Comers - From an organizers point of view, this makes a lot
of sense.
Have a time table and STICK to it.
Nothing makes a crowd
more hostil than to have to wait
and wait for judging results.
4. Food - Have plenty of food/drink available. Something
for everyone.
5. Toilets - Another must have.
6. Signs - Not only do you need individual cars signs but
class ones
as well. Even though it's an expense I would highly
recommend
making all the signs. That way the
information is consistant
and uniform.
7. Pre-Register - Very important to sign making but also to
laying out the
field, organizing the judging,
etc. You can always have late
comers. Consider charging the
late folks.
8. Significant Car - We also have a class(s) for historically
significant cars.
The entry form allows the owner to fill in what he/she
thinks
are important historical facts. Last year we gave two
prizes,
one pre-war to a K-3 MG (from Abington Spares
collection)
and one post-war to a much raced C Type Jag.
9. Sponsorship - Although a very difficult task, getting
sponsorship money
allows you the freedom to do much. much more. We
started
out with a couple of local car dealerships and built on
that.
We are now fortuneate to have BMW of NA as our major
sponsor.
10. Judging - Right from the start we wanted to get the judging
part right.
We inlisted the help of some 'professionals', noteably
Dave
Brownel from Hemmings, to provide us with ideas and
insights. We make it known to all the participants, up
front,
what the rules are, what counts, what doesn't and in
general
our philosophy for the event. We try to make judging
consistant but there will always be individual
preferences.
Judging is, in the end, a subjective activity.
Make sure you have plenty of judges. If some are new at
it,
pair them with someone experienced. Make sure they are
identifiable. Special hat/badge/clothes to set them off
from
the crowd. Have a crowd clearer if necessary so the
judging
can proceed without having to bump people out of the
way.
These are a few of the topics that we mull over each year when putting
the event
together.
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