By all accounts, last weekend’s Show, Shine, Shag & Dine was a success – the perfect fall weather welcomed tens of thousands of people to Vance County and Pam Hester and Norman Dickerson couldn’t be happier.
But they probably are happy that another event is in the rearview mirror, too.
The Vance County Tourism Authority duo spoke Wednesday with John C. Rose on TownTalk to to give a follow-up of all the festivities, which required hours, weeks and months of planning, Hester noted.
Things got underway on Friday with a couple of cruise-ins, one at Satterwhite Point in the afternoon and a second at Charles Bowman’s Southern Classic Cars in downtown Henderson on Friday evening.
Hester estimated more than 200 cars came out to the lake, where lunch was available and a DJ providing music.
“You’d think that it was full,” Hester said, “then a group of cars would leave and another car club would come in.”
Dickerson concurred. “Attendance was excellent – it was one of the largest I can recall seeing in a number of years. Hester said at the height, there were probably 25,000 to 30,000 people on Garnett Street, enjoying food, vendors and, of course, the cars.
“It was packed,” Hester said. “Part of the time it was wall-to-wall people.”
Those who came to downtown Henderson saw a mixture of old, new and new-again events, they said.
One new event was the Jeep Jam, and Hester said 15 Jeeps drove in for the day.
“I think you have to keep the history of the event, but you also have to keep it relevant, and that will make an event stay fresh,” she said.
The Jeep Jam is an example of a new event, and the return of the race cars – more than 16 or so – goes into the “new-again” category.
Comments about the 20th annual event, on social media posts and personal comments into the tourism office, have been overwhelmingly positive, she said.
The 50-some volunteers, along with collaboration from the city and county and the support of the tourism board, all contributed to the festive atmosphere and how smoothly things ran.
And the support from downtown merchants was unsurpassed, Hester said.
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