Cars and Guitars brings in the crowds

By Mo Cranker on August 21, 2017.

mcranker@medicinehatnews.com @MHNmocranker

If you’re a fan of classic cars, classic rock, or both — there’s a pretty high chance you spent some time at the Canalta Centre this weekend.

The second annual Cars and Guitars festival kicked off Friday with two shows from classic rocks bands, before Saturday’s day festival, which featured nearly 300 classic cars, beer gardens, live music and many door prizes.

This year’s festival was the first that saw Canalta team up with the Cypress Rod and Custom Car Club, combining the club’s car show with the preexisting Cars and Guitars event.

“We’ve been in the city for quite some time now, and this is our 31st annual show,” said Ron Beauchesne with the Cypress Rod and Custom Car Club. “This year is the first year we’ve teamed up with the Canalta Centre and this is going great. We both had separate shows last year, ours being at the college, and we’ve decided to team up.”

The event’s night shows featured the bands Kick Axe, Loverboy, Trooper and Honeymoon Suite, as well as a few local bands during the day show.

Beauchesne says he hopes the club can continue to work with the Canalta Centre for many years to come.

“I know I’ve got three vehicles and I think this is our best year yet,” he said.

“I know Canalta really wants to grow this as a family festival and our club is really enjoying our first year here. Our last show had maybe 200 cars, so being close to 300 is great for us — we hope people have a lot of fun when they come out.”

Randy Russell, also with the Cypress Rod and Custom Car Club, says he thinks this year’s Cars and Guitars event was a success.

“This first year with Canalta has been exceptional,” he said. “We’ve got cars from Manitoba, B.C., Montana, Edmonton and Calgary. People are really coming out to enjoy the day and we’re excited to be here.”

Russell says classic cars have something that new cars just can’t replicate.

“People just love the old, vintage cars,” he said. “Back in the day, when you looked at a car, you knew what kind it was. Today, you can’t tell cars apart. To add to that, the old cars have great colours and shine. The new cars are just black, white, grey and sometimes blue.”

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