April car show (another I need advice thread)

[74 rallye]

 Good evening folks, Ever year my son and daughters school has an auction to benefit the school, its the biggest fund raiser of the year, this year is the 20th anniversary of the auction and we decided to go big in celebration, some ideas discussed were the usual like cake raffles and a spaghetti dinner but then someone brought up a car show ( I wonder who!?    ) Any how I am needing advice on registrations, awards, advertising and the like, I am thinking about a fan vote for winner. I am thinking about a fan vote for winner meaning people would buy strip tickets and place them in a box beside the car of their choice, the winner would be whoever has the most tickets in their box at the end. I have never run a car show and need all the help I can get. this auction is usually a good time and all items auctioned are donated by businesses in the area as well as private people.   thanks for re,ading and I look forward to the replies

[Cuda Cody]

Much like you I've never put a car show on.... but I've been to a lot of them.  Weather seems to be the biggest key to good turnouts.  So try to plan it around a time of year that you have the best chance for good weather.  Besides that, I'm not really sure how to put a good car show on.   

[74 rallye]

Yes the weather is always a factor and so far all the years I've been going to the auction we have had pretty decent weather, I'm crossing my fingers for another good year, the auction is scheduled to be on the 29th of april and its usually fair this time of year in Pa. I'm thinking I should keep it simple with all that will be going on and may even do the show the day before and maybe finish with the spaghetti dinner

[GoodysGotaCuda]

I looked at holding a fundraiser car show at a University that I attended. I was told I needed a $1M insurance policy and quit looking from there. 

I am not sure what all is required, but the powers at be should be in the loop wherever you plan to hold the event.

[Chryco Psycho]

A friend of mine was awesome at this , he could promote Anything & Had contacts too
Some dealers will throw in hats or Tees , Goody bags with small prizes / marketing for local business offering some kind of discount helps too
Maybe a local or school band with tunes .
Depends how well you know people & business in the area or how well they know the auction from previous years

[dave73]

Link up with a local car club and see if they can help out. They may be able to bring some expertise in the planning stages and will also most likely roll in with a bunch of cars...

There are a bunch of weekly small shows in my area in retail parking lots, all sponsored by a local car club. A few of them throw 1 big show a year as a fundraiser for a good cause.

[Spikedog08]

My real estate company has been doing car shows for the last 10 years and this year was our last.  Advertising is a big thing!  Have to let everyone know that has a car.  In the month of April may be challenging . . . if you are in PA, a lot of cars may still be in storage??  Having the spectators vote for their favorite is a good idea but just have one box at the registration booth, having one at every car doesn't seem feasible, give everyone a number and have them vote . . . need a DJ which will cost unless you can find someone to do it for free.  Gonna need some kind of food . . . having a boy scout troop BBQ worked well for us.  They make money and that helps them.  Port-a-potty will cost as well.  Location makes a difference as well.  A lot of car show goers like to have tents so need some grass, if you are giving out trophies  . . . there is a cost for those . . . a lot of details! 

[ViperMan]

I'm gonna go ahead and jump in here as I tend to do a lot of PLANNING for stuff, and I think I can help... 

First of all, the internet will be your friend - remember that.  Just about anything you want to do, there's a website that'll help you do it and probably won't even cost that much.

Want to sell tickets, or even have entrants register for free online?  Use eventbrite.com  (It worked GREAT for the Carlisle Decennial dinner I threw!)
Want to be able to collect monies via credit cards?  Use PayPal.  (I've been a customer for nearly 20 years.)
Want to advertise?  FACEBOOK.  (Yes, we ALL hate Facebook!  And why?!  Because we all USE it!!!!) 
- also look into low-cost radio spots
- also look into posting flyers at local repair shops/dealerships
- look for existing car clubs (I live in the middle of nowhere and there are at least 3 clubs) and ask if they'll post info to their members
Want to make money?
- SPONSORS - let local companies pay to advertise IN your car show.  Get shirts made with each sponsor on the back.  Get can coozies, pennants, silipints (www.silipint.com).  Get those sponsors to donate a trophy in the class of their choosing (give them a pre-determined list of categories to choose from) and then they can pick their own winner on the day of.  A lot of events these days have "levels" of sponsorship.  You could have "import, vintage, classic," and "exotic" levels.  Each one grants the sponsor more exposure, but costs them more money.  Maybe like $500 to appear on the shirt, $1000 to sponsor an award, and say, $5000 to be the "official" sponsor (The Blah-Blah School First Annual Rats & Rods Show, brought to you by E-Bodies.org - wink wink nudge nudge!  )
- You can charge entrants, but I'm not typically a fan of that...  After all, you need us to have a car show in the first place, right?  Then again, there's Carlisle...  *shrug*
Want food?
- Get Food trucks to show up.  Cost to you?  Zilch.
Want music?
- Okay that you'll need to do some legwork on and likely pay for...  But you could look at having a local radio station bring out a van and set up a "remote" at your event.  Yes you'll pay for it, but it's ALSO advertising.
Want a location?
- for your first event, I'd look at a local business with a large parking lot that might be willing to host the event for free (basically you're going to inadvertently advertise for THEM, so it's a win-win).  Car dealerships might be willing to host, or maybe even a local strip mall.  If your town has a "downtown" area, you could check with their council (look on Facebook!) - maybe they could lend a parking lot in town for you to use as a way to drum up support for their local businesses.  (That could also solve your food and restroom issues all in one - let the local businesses provide those services.)

Yes, I imagine it would be a tooooooooooooon of legwork.  And it sounds like @Spikedog08 can lend some pretty great first-hand expertise.

Where at in PA?  Small chance I could be back in the state (or at least closer) by then.    Gotta new car I wouldn't mind showin' off... 

[oldmoparbuff]

couple more suggestions:
Tap into a local boy scout troop, usually the leaders have a lot of experience planning events.
How I received my education.
I have chaired several large events for scouting; Scoutcapades & Pine wood derby, Camporee, and Webelos Woods.

Talk to your local fire marshal. In my area they outline requirements to put on a public event and you may have to get a permit.
Build a committee of 5-6+ volunteers to help you.
Better weather ensures better attendance.
Look ahead for conflicts in scheduling.
6 months is not too early to start planning, some of the committees I served on stayed together and started planning right after the event for next year.
Break the event into sub components; car show, parking, donations, first aid, registration, advertising, events, and cooking.
Nice if you can feed volunteers lunch, I now a couple of scout groups that take the food on as a way to fund raise. 
They feed the event staff for free and charge a price for hamburgers and hot dogs.  They keep proceeds
Having someone from a car club serve on the committee will help make sure some cars participate.
Does the school have rally squad, band, sports teams:  They can all be of some help the day of the event.
Fire Department, Police Departments and Kiwanis all love to participate in this type of event.
One of the big ticket money raisers, I was familiar with, was a dunk tank, dunk the Scoutmaster.  In your case dunk the principle.
Might get parent participation if you dunk the Superintendent.
If you can build some momentum this can be an annual event.

[74 rallye]

Thanks for the replys, lots of good advice, I will have to wait to see what is said at the next meeting, I am going to keep planning for the show . Viperman, I am twenty miles below state college, I talked to you several years ago at Carlisle and on the other site, if memory serves me right you went to penn state correct?we also talked about a mutual friend that did recording in his home 🙂

[71-440]

Good advise from previous posts. As a member of a car club when I had my 09 Challenger I was a part of planning a show here in My home town.
Takes some work but the pay off is worth it.
Good luck!

[Rich G.]

We go to shows as much as possible because we love taking the cars out and watching the people check things out. I know it's a fund raiser so it's going to be about the money but what drives us crazy is when we pull up and have to wait for each person to fill out their registration form! Aghhh!! Do yourself and everyone entering the show a favor and just take their money and tell them to park and then go to a registration table and sign up. Everyone will be much happier then. Lots of flyers at cruise nights to advertise. Descent music and not deafening loud, and as many food vendors you can get. Good luck!

[dave73]

We go to shows as much as possible because we love taking the cars out and watching the people check things out. I know it's a fund raiser so it's going to be about the money but what drives us crazy is when we pull up and have to wait for each person to fill out their registration form! Aghhh!! Do yourself and everyone entering the show a favor and just take their money and tell them to park and then go to a registration table and sign up. Everyone will be much happier then. Lots of flyers at cruise nights to advertise. Descent music and not deafening loud, and as many food vendors you can get. Good luck!

Good advice - there's a great yearly local show that operates just like that on every Father's day. They get a local radio station to come play music, free advertising for them. They get people to donate car related parts/memorabilia etc and auction it off, all proceeds go to the charity.

[cudajunction]

ME! ME! ME!

I am on the board for www.benefitforthebasin.com - and my real estate office puts on a couple hour car show as a fund raiser every year.

First off, decide what you can do.  The small, cruise in type show is super easy, you just need flyers, a decent FB exposure and the folks will bring their cars out.   Use the KISS method.  Pick a venue without a lot of rules, I know for the BFTB show, we need the $1M insurance rider because of the venue we have it at.  But for the small real estate office show, we have it in our parking lot, so that is not required.  Have people fill out their own window card, sign a waiver and let them go park, have some car wranglers but let them park by their friends.  Keep the classes simple.  People's choice, some local celebrity you can get to come and judge, whatever.   Get a couple people to run a 50/50, sell water, get food trucks to handle that end and most will donate a portion of their sales to your cause.  You can have a silent auction going to raise more money, maybe have a little vendor area to sell spaces depending on your venue and your ambition. 

You have probably been to plenty of shows to know what works, but I can tell you, KISS.  The big ambitions with lots of moving parts is a PITA and your organization will hate it.