UCR celebrated the start of driving season with our annual season opener, Shift Into Spring, at the premises of our long-time hosts, CSN 427 Auto Collision. The weather cooperated, with a cool but clear morning, warming as the day progressed, helping to bring out the largest crowd we have seen in recent memory. While we don’t keep count, we did spend more on coffee than we had budgeted, and 427 Auto reported donations ($5 per ticket) that indicated sales of approximately 600. The food truck was certainly busier than expected! Fortunately, there were lots of people to talk to and cars to admire in the Show & Shine display while waiting for lunch. Lorenzo D’Alessandro from CSN estimated over 500 right after the event.
Before the general opening at 10 am, while people were still setting up, 19 drivers and navigators arrived for our first Rally of the year, departing at intervals after 8 am and returning in time for lunch. Sajjad Butt, our Rally Chair, had spent hours setting up and reviewing the route to be used for the Rally. We can report that everyone returned safely and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
This year, we added some mini-Tech Sessions, run by Mantis Autosport, Dent Doctor, C17 Auto Armour, and CSN 427 Auto Collision. These were well received, with one comment suggesting that we should have announced when they were starting. I had intended to do this but got busy talking with members, and the time slipped by. Next year we will arrange for an announcer to keep things on track. Also new this year was a significantly larger parts swap component than we had in the past, featuring approximately 12 sellers who participated free of charge.
“Our event on Sunday went better than we could have imagined. The beautiful weather led to one of our biggest turnouts to date. All the vendors and key speakers at the tech sessions did a fantastic job, and we could not be happier with the outcome. Our company was honoured to participate in the tech sessions, where we presented on vehicle refinishing. We were also able to raise over $1,500 for Make-A-Wish Canada, which 427 Auto will match, bringing the total donation to around $3,000. Thank you to everyone who was involved with coordinating the event and to all of those who attended.”
Jessica D’Alessandro – CSN 427 Auto Collision
Our new Membership Chair, Bryan Press, was busy handing out name tags to people who had requested them, talking to people and signing up new members. Alice Thomas, our Secretary and a Driver Education enthusiast, worked the DE table and enjoyed meeting people and explaining our DE program. Rob Payne, one of our UCR Directors, worked the Driving Tour table and explained the RoadStr mobile app to guests.
The Goodie Store was going non-stop all day, often with lineups to pay, and reported sales of about twice the revenue of the previous year. I spoke with several of the other vendors, and they all seemed pleased with the event as well.
This was my first year being more involved in Shift Into Spring. Volunteers make this event (and everything else we do) happen, and it was great to see things come together. Last year’s Co-Chair, Mark Solomon, retired but still helped arrange tables for the event. Last year’s other Co-Chair, Peter Helston, had indicated he wished to retire, but still helped with some of the early organizing. Kye Wankum carried a lot of the burden and did a fantastic job of sprucing up our presence with new drop cloths for the event tables that were nothing short of stunning. It was great seeing people’s reactions when they saw their face or car on some of the table displays.
It was wonderful seeing all the people out, enjoying themselves, and so many hanging around in the parking lot chatting as the event drew to a close.
I would like to thank all the volunteers who contributed their time and effort. Some were there the day before, setting up tables and arranging things – then showing up again around 8 am to continue setup – while some remained till about 3 pm to do the teardown. A special thanks goes to CSN 427 Auto Collision for allowing us into their premises and supporting us in such a generous fashion. Behind the scenes, they moved a lot of cars out of the way and ensured everything was clean and shining before we arrived. Then, while we were tearing down, they brought all the cars back.
We will be seeking additional help next year, including a leader for the event, with assistance from this year’s team. Drop us a line if you want to be part of it. </>
Story by Larry Funnell |
Photography by David Adams, Kathleen Wong and Eshel Zweig
