The 15th annual Chestermere Lake Show and Shine took over the Recreation Centre parking lot Aug. 27.
For Co-founder and organizer Elaine Smart the show has been a labour of love spanning the last year.
“I have a great love cars,” she said.
Her fondness for cars and supporting charities keeps here coming back despite the hard work and stress that goes into a successful show.
“I’ve loved cars since I first saw a car,” said Smart.
“It’s wonderful to think that we can have a lovely day of looking at cars but at the same time be able to give back,” she said.
Smart doesn’t personally own any classic cars and said she couldn’t pick a favourite.
“I just love them all, I love the new really fast hot cars like the Mclaren’s and I love the old ‘60s cars,” she said, “I wouldn’t mind an Aston Martin.”
As far as the cars and trucks that come to the show, Smart is always impressed with the ones whose owners have spent a lot of time restoring and working on them.
“I am more impressed with the guy or girl that is able to get something and then bring it back to its former glory,” she said.
“The fact that they’ve put so much sweat and labour into it is really amazing,”
The Chestermere Lake Show and Shine regularly attracts entrants from across the province and British Columbia.
The farthest away that they have ever had an entry came from the Maritimes.
The owner was coming to a wedding in Calgary and decided to come with his car to the show as part of his holiday.
As nice as it is to get all these cars travelling into Chestermere, Smart would also like to see more local residents bringing their cars out to the show.
“In Chestermere there are lots and lots of beautiful cars,” she said.
It’s a tradition of the show to support several different smaller charities.
This year proceeds from the show are being donated to the main charity, Alberta Spay Neuter Task Force as well as smaller donations to the Chestermere Historical Society, the Chestermere Recreation Centre and Justice for Bullies, a charity for bully dog breeds.
Smart says the organizers like to support the smaller organizations that tend to have a harder time raising funds.
“We never give anything to large organizations…I just feel that they have a lot of people giving them millions of dollars. We don’t raise a lot of money, it’ll be a couple of thousand dollars for each one which they’re really grateful for,” she said.
Smart chose the Alberta Spay Neuter Task Force to be the major beneficiary because in additions to cars, she is an animal lover too.
“I usually want to try and give to help the animal charities,” she said.
