Need some advice on organizing a car show

My 1st grade son attends a private Christian school. My wife is the president-elect of the Parent Teacher Assn.

The school really needs a Fall fundraiser, and I have submitted a proposal for an outdoor car show next Fall ('07). This would be in a historic part of Amarillo, where there is lots of Harley activity, etc.

I envision a car show with all kinds of different cars - exotics, muscle cars, antiques, even motorcycles.

I guess I am looking for any advice or input on "do's" and "don't dos" as well as any general suggestions.

One thing I need help on is the "entry fee" for cars - what should it be? Also, the same for public admission - what is a reasonable price? Are there other revenue opportunities with this, other than concessions? (We can't do a raffle)

Thank everyone in advance for your thoughts.

 

i have seen car shows where the entry fee is anywhere from 5 dollars (for an every type of car event) to i believe it was 50 for an exotic show. i think anywhere from 15 is a very reasonable amount. as for admission to the show, i have never seen one where you have to pay to get in, other than at trade shows and huge events, like the dub auto show. i can definitely see other ways of making money, such as raffles, a donation box, etc. just my 2 cents

 

i was running this by our school sponspored auto group (im president here at UAlbany) anyways some ideas we thought of were to see if there was a large scale bar-b-que place and have them donate or give you a huge discount on the event. ( where i am theres a couple of places that have massive bar-b-ques and they make meals for like $8 a head usually they crank out a couple hundred meals at one of their pits.) maybe you can find something like that and then say for every meal you get $3 we get $5 or something like that. could do a donation based car wash if theres a water supply Ie. a donation of $5 will get you a car basic car wash, $10 gets you a wash and wax, ect. with the age of your child i wouldnt recommend but still throwing ideas out. Maybe photo ops. if you manage to get some exotics, just set up a nice staging area and allow ppl to get phots for like $2 when it comes to charity its the small things like this that people dont mind spending on, even if it seems foolish because its going to a cause and not someones pocket. ( We've enlisted the aid of a local sorority chapter to help us out) but i hope that gave you some ideas. I say just dont OVER do it, our last president tried to do a car show but his plans were larger than a HIN event...we never had a car show with him needless to say.

 

Would a $30 entry fee be too high? There would likely be 125-150 cars, so it would be a decent show. Only problem is a rain-out.

I was thinking that the $30 entry fee would be non-refundable. If it's a rain-out and you don't want your car out in the rain, then the $30 is a donation to the school. Otherwise a rain-out would absolutely kill us.

We have lots of mild weather this time of year, so it isn't likely, but does this sound fair?

The photo op thing is a GREAT idea. I could have my 348 there and kids would LOVE that. Thank you for that.

As for the concessions, I think the booster club could set up a hamburger deal and cook it themselves - they could keep all of the proceeds.

Thanks Friends for all of your ideas...keep them coming!

 

I just finished helping with a car show similar to the one you describe. It was in the downtown area of a small town here, cars parked in the street.

Make sure you get your show promoted well in advance. Go to other car shows in the area with a few hundred flyers, then drop one at every car in the show. Everyone around here seems to do this - I had a car at 1 show where I passed out flyers for our show. When I got back to my car, there were 8 flyers for other shows on my front seat.

See if you can get other entertainment in the area. People seem to like it when there is a band or at least a DJ. Also, if you are having this in a downtown area, see if there is a merchant's association or chamber of commerce that is willing to work with you. The car show I did was sponsored by the downtown merchant's association, in most cases, any event that draws hundreds of people to an area where there are shops is a good thing in their eyes. Especially if it falls on a day that is typically slow for business. You have somewhat of a captive audience with a car show. A lot of the time, the families will tag along and they are looking for things to do.

We did a $10 entry fee only. There was no way to control public admission. Had a good turnout considering it was cloudy, cold, and threataning rain. $30 seems high to me, most shows in this area are in the $5-$15 range.

Are you going to do prizes for the cars? If so, what classes are you going to have? You will have to put up some money for trophies, etc.

We did public ballots for our judging. Gave people a half-sheet of card stock and let people pick their favorite 2 cars per class, then tallied the votes. If you do this, make sure you can get the votes counted in time, and that the system you're using is accurate. I had a spreadsheet that wound up having some formulas that were wrong, so I had all the data in, but was late getting the results. Wound up announcing the winners 30 minutes after the Packers/Bears game kickoff, and it had started to sprinkle rain after threataning all day. Needless to say, people were not happy.

 

We have a plan to control entry - we will be fencing off the campus and have a few entrances where there will be ticket booths. To encourage ticket sales, I thought we'd have two or three big door prizes that are donated - perhaps a plasma TV and a nice stainless steel bbq grill. That's kind of like having a raffle but doing it a different way - you have to buy an admission ticket to be eligible.

We plan on having a live band - it will just be high school kids from the school performing, etc.

 

I have planned and executed many car shows over the last two decades...the main thing to do early on is get the word out...run ads in local newspapers, car/motorcycle club newsletters and web sites, chat rooms like FChat, restaurant and entertainment guides, etc...this has to be started several months before the car show date due to printing deadlines. You also need to print flyers and hand them out at car and motorcycle shows in the area for months before your show...you will need to have several people assist you with that in order to hit all the car shows in your area each weekend...and you will find there are many more than you imagine...that is in fact the best way to get the most cars to your show as people already at a car show are likely to want to go to another one...there are people that go to car shows almost every weekend year round. I also solicite both car and motorcycle dealers to come and set up tents to show case their cars. Give me a call at 770.317.8836 if you wish to discuss...good luck, Frank

 

Frank, thank you - great thoughts/ideas. What do you think about the $30 car entry fee? And maybe a $4 admission for adults, $2 for kids.

This would be held on Route 66, so I would think that the show would have LOTS of appeal for both car owners and attendees.

 

i think 30 dollars is definitely obtainable, but like i mentioned in my comment before, i still think you're going to have a little bit of trouble in charging admission for attendees.

 

Do you think that offering several door prizes to ticket buyers - a plasma TV, a nice outdoor grill, etc., would incentivize people to pay for admission?

 

yes, that would definately help. i don't know the layout of the area where you are planning on holding this show at, but will it be easy to control the crowd coming in?
by the way, i wish you the best of luck with this

 

Thank you for the well-wishes. Entry control will be a challenge, but we have a few natural barriers (large buildings) that will help, along with some temporary vinyl fencing like they put around construction sites.

 

Depending on what my life is like in a year I would probably be interested in driving up to partake. I should be in my E92 by then.

$30 is very fair price imo.

 

Jason, the E92 sounds interesting...but what is it? (Pardon my ignorance - I know just enough about Ferraris to be dangerous).

 

hey, no problem, i always support events like these and wish the best to the event officials. sounds like you've got a plan, i would reccomend, and i'm obviously not the one in chare, but make one entry point. this will help with crowd control.

 

I did not read every response to this thread, so my apology if this is a repeat. I do not know your area, so it is hard to tell you what to charge as an entry fee, or for the first year if you should charge. Much depends on the awards, etc.

Possibly you can get a local dealer or other business to act as event sponsor so you can keep the entry fee to a minimum. Contact all the car clubs in a 50 mile radius so they can let their members know about the show. Unless it is a monsoon, the show should go on rain or shine.

Giving away really nice trophies, or plaques, and some sort of nice participation momento will help you get a good turn out the following year.

Good luck.

 

This is great idea, but $30 seems a little high for a 1st show, and it being outdoors. $15-20 is the most I've seen around this parts (w/1 exception).I do a couple of shows that have been at it for 10 yrs, and only charge $10.

The "raffle" items you spoke would be awesome prizes. The only issue I would see with charging people to enter, would be if it's a public place. People have the right to be these places free of charge. If it's private property then go for it and see what happens. You might see a lower #of lookers, MOST of the general are not use to paying to look at cars. Car enthusiest are.

Just my .02

Good luck!!!

 

I think a $25 entry fee and a $10 admission is good, but free admission is better. Your kids school can set up food / game booths with guaranteed prizes (candy) and stuffed animals for the big prizes. the kids can sell discount game and food tickets to the event. This will give the moms and kids something to do while the dads check out the cars. They can be car themed games that the school kids can design to get them involved and excited about it. My kids catholic school has an annual Mardi Gras that has raised about $50-$90k per year. Good luck, sounds like a fun idea!
BT

 

is this a one year deal? or are you planning on holding these for years to come? these do sound like great ideas that everyone is giving.

 

If even decently successful, I would envision this as an annual fundraiser. The fall is such a beautiful time - it's really the best time to be outdoors in the TX panhandle - mild temperatures, very little wind. These ideas are great and are a big help to me.

 

It's the new BMW 3-Series.

No ignorance at all. I should have just said 3 series. All these car terms can get confusing sometimes.