All spring and summer, Saturday evenings in Elizabethton is a special time for a lot of people — both local and out-of-town. They dress their old cars up and bring them to town to show off.
Others come to town to see the old cars, and others come to meet people in the hobby. It’s an opportunity to ask questions, whether about a certain make or model, or some facet of restoration you’re interested in.
Car people are among the most informative, inclusive and friendly on the planet. The Saturday evening car shows are more of a social gathering of friends. Everybody seems to know each other, talk to each other, help each other out, tell each other where they can find parts. It’s an event and a place to have a good time, and to meet some of your neighbors.
Many people wonder what the big deal is with car shows and what is so good about them. The answer is cars and more cars. However, the car shows are not just about car owners getting together to show off what they have. That is the point of the car show, but that isn’t the only thing that goes on at a car show. If you have ever been to a car show then you know what goes on. Occasionally, they give prizes for the best car in the show, best looking car, most customized, best restored.
A lot of people that do not even have a car are always at the shows looking at the cars. There are tons of people who go to a car show and do not have a show car.
The Saturday evening car shows draw a lot of people to downtown Elizabethton. They are people who eat in downtown restaurants, often buy gas and shop locally.
The car shows are a happy slice of Americana and provide a festive-yet-relaxed atmosphere.
Farther down Elk Avenue at the Covered Bridge Park, there is music in the park every Saturday evening during the summer, and the concerts, too, draw a lot of people to the downtown.
The people who organize the car show and the music in the park have put a good amount of time and effort into making the events special, and a lot of pride is on the line.
Most Saturday evenings, the car show has no judges, no classes, no awards, no fancy show signs, and no displays, just local folks showing what they own lined up on Elk Avenue in front of store fronts. For a car enthusiast, there’s a certain charm about such events.
Somewhat surprisingly, the types, variety and quality of the cars at the Saturday evening shows can be surprising. It is the very ad hoc nature of the event, its informality and casualness, that gives it a unique charm.
It’s easy to see why the event is such a crowd favorite. When driving around town or elsewhere and you spot a particularly cool car, the tendency is to gawk and point and express a little envy. The car show allows you to do this at your leisure, with an overflowing cornucopia of really cool cars — literally by the hundreds — that you can ogle for as long you care to.
Whether your tastes run to exotic cars, antique cars, muscle cars, roadsters, trucks or nearly any other imaginable kind of motorized transportation, the Saturday evening car show always has something for aficionados of every stripe.
One of the best things about the car show, both for the enjoyment of local residents as well as the benefit of the local economy, is that it is one of the few community events that lasts more than a single day. It lasts all summer long, every Saturday evening.
We urge readers to drop in on the car show. The show will be held each Saturday evening through the end of October. You might be surprised at what you see.