If youre planning to be anywhere this weekend, make it the capital of cool on the South Saskatchewan River.Saskatoons classic rock outdoor concert series and car-show extravaganza returns for its 37th edition this Friday through Sunday. Tickets for Rock the River 2019 have long since sold out, as they do every year. But owners of pre-1999 vehicles in show-ready condition still have time to join the more than 40,000 locals and tourists wholl take over 14 downtown blocks, where up to 1,000 classic cars, trucks and motorcycles will park for the car-show portion of the Rock 102 Show and Shine Western Canadas largest auto-themed street party.It started from very humble beginnings and has just blossomed into this massive event, says Brent Loucks, morning man at Rock 102s sister station CKOM since 1984.Not only because of everyones love for these cars, but because of the timing: were wrapping up another summer, so this a great social event tying in music and cars that everyone in the community can relate to. Were all getting together to celebrate here in one of the greatest cities in Canada. Whereas the AW, Burger Baron and Dog and Suds were once the prime car-spotting locations on Saskatoon’s Cruise Night, now, it’s the Dairy Queen. Or wherever you can park a lawn chair. Sarah Staples Loucks was at the first edition of the Show and Shine, in 1982, when owners of a dozen classic cars decided to get together by the AW on 8th Street East, Saskatoons major east-west thoroughfare. It started relatively innocently as a radio station promotion, Loucks continues.Wed play old music, there was a hula-hoop contest, people were dressing in 50s and 60s outfits, listening to retro music, and it was just a fun thing to do in the evening; then, more car clubs joined in and the classic car side kept growing every year. 1965 Corvette Stingray of Leonard Mazzei, of Eston, SK, at the city’s 2018 Show and Shine Sarah Staples This Saturday evening, vintage cars will again head to 8th Street East to loop around the long, wide boulevard, over and over. Some owners park and make it a tailgate party, opening their hoods to spectators of all ages who line the impromptu parade route.Parking lots are full all up and down the street, people are sitting on bus benches, lawn chairs, bleachers that are set up, says Neil Schneider, marketing manager at Wyant Group Raceway, which has organized its own events over the weekend for the past decade.8th Street was the original home of Saskatoons stock-car paved motordrome, the 8th Street Racing Oval, before it moved north of the city in 2006 and was renamed Wyant Group Raceway. Its one of only two tracks in Western Canada to host Pintys NASCAR Canada racing and is Canadas only volunteer-run racetrack, managed and staffed entirely by members of the Saskatoon Stock Car Racing Association Ltd. (SSCRA).This weekend there will be local Pro Trucks, Bandaleros (kids 8-16) and Mini Stocks (compact cars) competing, along with Baby Grands and Mini Cups series hosted from Alberta. And over at the Saskatchewan International Raceway, the citys drag strip will host Jet Cars racing.Every year, from the public and from the club, the response is getting bigger and bigger, says Schneider. Theres non-race fans, race-fans, families, just anyone curious to see these cars. (Tourist tip: for four Sundays every year, the track opens to anyone who’s keen to get behind the wheel of a stock car; the next Dakota Dunes Race Experience, monitored by qualified pro drivers, is Sept 8.)The radio station also organizes a Poker Run: participants drive classic cars to five different spots around Saskatoon, drawing a single card at each location, then meet up to determine who has the prize-winning poker hand.Theres a definite vintage feel to the entire weekend. It reminds me of the movie American Graffiti. You get really nostalgic seeing the old muscle cars, hearing the squeal of tires, explains Schneider. Its a feeling of parents being able to be kids again.Rock the Rivers concert series spotlights many classic Canadian bands, too. Loverboy, Platinum Blonde, The Headpins and Chilliwack will take to the main stage this weekend, by The Delta Bessborough hotel. Motorcycles are welcome at Saskatoon’s biggest car show. Sarah Staples Last year, I ran into Kim Mitchell sauntering out of an elevator at The Bessborough. His trademark blond mane had gone the way of those MTV-era pink pants, but bald or no, Mitchell still had it that recognizably Canadian, indescribably Rush-era something special. The iconic rocker disappeared from the iconic Canadian National Railway hotel before I could say, Hell yeah, go for that soda, Kim.While youre at it, Rock on, Saskatoon. You see families where grandparents used to cruise 8th Street 30 years ago, and now its their children or grandchildren bringing that same car that theyve inherited, or building their own, Loucks says. It goes to show how many people in this world love cars and
Origin: Western Canada’s biggest automotive street party is in Saskatoon this weekend