We attend a show sponsored by the Midwest Street Rod Association here in Illinois which last year saw their 40th “Gears and Ears”celebration in Yorkville. T shirts for all who pre-register, free grilled corn and drinks for all participants all day long and damn near everyone gets a door prize to boot. The club members each make an award to present to a car of their choice,(club members cars ineligible) and the day wraps up with a huge 50/50 drawing with multiple $500 winners depending on the amount of tickets sold. Laid back atmosphere brings in 700 plus rods,muscle and stockers, seems to all work. Get there early for the shady areas!
Yep ...best shows are the little local Show N Shines that do not cost to enter and no trophy's are handed out, local people/business donate items/prizes for a raffle ticket winner and a 50/50 money raffle for a good charitable cause.
Although this isn't what the OP was asking for, I'll toss it out there anyway. At a local show (Bloomsburg Nationals), a scavenger hunt was included in the festivities. The kids were welcome to participate, and they had a blast doing so. Clues were strategically placed around the showfield, and there were quite a number of clues to discover. Can't recall what the final prize was exactly, although I think it was a cash award of maybe $25.00 or so.
At our show almost everyone got a trophy, as we had so many classes, we only had two classes with over two cars and we had trophy’s for two places in every class. We also personalized each trophy with the winners name. We need all the advice you guys and gals can give us. Here is a pic of some of our advertising. Bones
We plan on doing a show at school this fall/end of summer. A start of school kickoff. Open for anything. I don't care if a hydrogen powered unicycle shows up. Students will build the trophies and judge. May even fire up the welders and fab trophies during the show. Will try to talk the superintendent into having a burnout comp. shows are supposed to be fun Whatever you do make it as fun and inclusive ( not being PC ) to as many different types of transportation as possible.
After reading this thread I thought I would throw my opinion in the ring. I go to shows during the summer season I would not attend a local/small show for 20 dollars. I would put the 20 in my tank and go on a nice cruise instead. I enjoy cruise ins much more than shows free to stop by donations for a charity lunch and some music live or dj. Door prizes listed by number on a white board instead of calling numbers all day very annoying. I have no interest in trophies I ussally tear my number of the placard so I can’t be voted for. Just my thoughts Hobo Jim
I don't like participant judging or the you vote for me I'll vote for you shit. If you don't get there until 10:00-11:00 75% of the judging is already in the ballot box. I'm all for no trophies, cheap food, good music, and as many door prizes as you can get. Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.
Judging is a great way to create hard feelings, only the winners think it was fair! If you are counting on gaining attendance by doling out trophies, do you really want the type of people at your show, that will lie, cheat, and steal to get a $20 trophy so they have something in their shitty little life to brag about? Another great way to piss people off is to hold an engine raffle, only to have a member of the host club win it, (had it happen) that smells real bad!
Don't reward anything that came in on a trailer. That is if you're having a hot rod show. Otherwise give everyone a plastic gold chain they can hang on their a/c knob.
Unless you go to a genuine points system or people choice like @HOTRODPRIMER suggested car show judging is primarily political. Whomever the judges like wins. If you are going to develop a points system then categories are a must, IE custom, hot rod, street rod race etc. Your points would be based on specific aspects of each class for example, race may include suspension and drive train, cockpit etc. Custom may be based on paint, fit and finish, mods. ad so and so forth. Find someone who is well versed in each class that you decide on and let them help you develop your points system. End of the day a lot of it is subjective and will be a judgment call.
That is the system I used, 100 point system on three categories, paint, engine and interior. Thought I had it figured out, but when it came to add the points we ran into trouble figuring who was in what class and with my flawed system one car won every thing, not going to happen that way again. I made some quick decisions to solve some problems. Also my judges were either from out of town or had no connection with any clubs, just knowledgeable people. Got to figured a better way, that’s why I want to know what car folks want, after all it’s thier show really. Also I would like opinions about trailer queens and drive in cars, thanks Bones
I have never been to a show that made a distinction between drivers and trailer cars. It is purely up to the owner to make his or her car clean and presentable. Some shows provide a clean up area with a hose. Or you can make the provision No Trailer Cars, drivers only. You'll still get people who trailer them and drive them the last mile or two. That is the nature of the beast. The thing you got to remember is end of the day its your show and you run it the way you see fit, you will never please the masses so you just do whatever tradeoff you have to that you can be comfortable with and let the chips fall where they may.
It's great that you recognize the opinions of the car owners are valuable. You could have just said, "My way!" I'm sure the show will grow each year. I'm sure you won't forget about the other half of the show - the spectators. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The club I was part of did an annual event, there was no registration fee, it was free! They gave out 10 specially built trophies, all the same, club chosen as club's choice Club cars not eligible. At 1pm each club member went out and picked their favorite, and came back to the club tent, then 2 or 3 members would review the choices and pick out the top 10. Once everyone agreed, the choice was done. At the awards time, each of the 10 winners would bring their cars into the "Winners Circle" and the owner would tell a short story about their car. In addition to the 10 club trophies was a Kids Choice trophy, a Chief of Police choice, a Fire Chief choice, a Mayor's choice, and matching trophy of the club choice trophies given to a club member, chosen by non-club participants. The club was known for having some really nice cars that were driven. At the event they also gave members patches for hot rods driven over 10,000 miles the year before. We had a team that did kids activities throughout the day. They included coloring, games of tag within a specific area, and jars with different items for the kids to guess how many of the specific items were in the jars (the count was tapped to the inside of the lid). They also sent a group of kids out to pick a kids choice trophy, which would be presented by the kids at the awards ceremony. Awards were given for the kids activities at the awards ceremony as well. These events were always fund raisers for local charities. The charity members would seek unique donations. Each donated item had a jar placed before it. Club members would sell tickets seven tickets for $5, or $1 each, anyone could buy a ticket. If you saw a donation you liked, you would put part of your ticket(s) (as may tickets as you wanted to improve your odds) into the jar in front of the item. At the specified time, all the jars were sealed, and the winning ticket for the donated item was pulled from the represented jar. The winning ticket holder got the item, the charity got 100% of the money. We also held a 50/50 drawing they sold tickets for all day (different color from the donation tickets), the winner got 1/2 the money, the other 1/2 went to the cub to cover expenses. The club "sold" vendor spaces, but made sure there was only 1 of any vendor selling specific items. If the venue space permitted, we had car games as well, muffler wrapping, (crowd choice), slow drags, and in the early years, a burn out area (crowd choice). In addition to the big free show, we put on a show at a limited parking venue (an old time City Square around a park with 275 parking spaces). There we charged $10 for the parking spot, and everything was set up for all the proceeds to go to the local charity. There were only 2 trophies for that show, one the choice of the charity fundraising committee and one was the choice of the several kids that benefited from the charity. That charity received some very nice high value donations for the ticket jars. The Charity sold 50/50 tickets for several months before the event. That one the DJ also donated his time. That show generated several thousands of dollars to the charity. The charity put a lot of effort into preparation for that show after we did the 1st one and they were able to see the potential. Gene
If there is an entry fee, give all entries a door prize such as a key chain or a T-Shirt, something along that line making sure that the entry fee covers the cost with a deadline to sign up. Choose the winners by class or by anyway that you decide using impartial judging or just have a stand alone show with no judging. Have good food available. Food trucks, BBQ, food booths, drink booths (water/soda), chili cook off, etc. Talk to the local eateries. Maybe you can cut a deal for 1/2 off of their food for the rod owners for the day of the show only as they do make good money this way. Good security is a must. Be sure to have the local authorities involved. Some have rods of their own. Make the show about the local authorities. Make the show about a charity. Make the show about your own club. Be sure to have adequate space available. Invite auto parts stores/ manufacturers to have a booth. Never charge the public for entry. Only charge for food and drinks. The only LOUD music involved is what you provide and not some lame brain showoff bumping his shitty music.
The host club picks Best of Show, usually, as clubs, shops, or individuals choose a category, make the trophies and pick the recipient amongst themselves.
Just give everyone a participation dash plaque. Nothing more. Peoples choice just turns into a stuffing the ballot box contest.
I have a friend that has a very nice 1936 Pontiac Coupe, there is one show that he won't go to because it is participant judged, he knows that the locals have several cars in the show and all of the locals vote for their cars. I know of other groups of guys that go together to car shows and do the same thing. I know that he goes to other shows and seems to enjoy them. Personally the nice part about having a below average car is great, since I know I have no chance to get a trophy I only do a cursory clean up (as a matter of fact I did a couple of shows just a week apart, didn't even clean the bugs off of the windshield) drive in park and enjoy the day. Just my observation.
LOL used to me a Mother's Day show that we went to that you got a goody bag for a donation to whatever charity. The only trophy was "Lady's Choice" I won the trophy one year by acting a fool, kept rolling up my britches legs and making googley eyes. Of course it didn't hurt that I was a long time friend of the club that put it on so all the ladies kept spurring me on. Some shows are just too much fun.
HeyVtx, you sound like me! I entered my wagon in our show, just to add numbers of cars, knowing I wouldn’t win anything. Didn’t even open the hood and had a 100 lb cast iron farm bell in the back,couldn’t get it unloaded before the show! Told everybody my horn didn’t work so I needed a bell. Lol We did some of the ideas people have suggested, such as food venders, 50/50 drawing, people’s choice and gave everyone a participation plaque to stick on their dash. We have our trouphies provided for next show and the t shirts are going to be donated. Things are looking good for the next show, if I can just figure out how to award trophies ( actually most were plaques) or not award anything. Just hope I keep getting opinions, and will go with the majority. Bones
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