CV Car Show Returning This Month
All photos courtesy of Dolphin Graphics
Castro Valley’s 14th annual car show is expected to come roaring back on June 18 after a two-year break for the pandemic.
Around 400 fancy cars are expected for the event, which will take over Castro Valley Boulevard between San Miguel Avenue and Redwood Road. Vendor and community booths, live music, snacks, and beverages including beer trucks will all open at 12 noon and close at 5 p.m. Cars, however, will begin arriving in the exhibition area, in groups, starting a bit after 9:30 a.m.
The event is newly sponsored by the Castro Valley Rotary, after being run for years by members of the Hayward Castro Valley Moose Lodge.
“There will be every kind of car you can possibly want,” said local car enthusiast and businessman Ken Carbone. His business, Dolphin Graphics, has been a sponsor of the show since the beginning and has designed many of the event’s posters and t-shirts over the years.
Castro Valley Rotary’s Dave Sadoff, chairman of the event, said interest has been unbelievable this year, with early registration running so strong there may be little room left to register on the day of the event. There’s a physical limit of about 400 cars, he said, as there’s only so much space on the ground along Castro Valley Boulevard at the event site.
Carbone said the event has always been intended as a community event, giving locals something interesting to see and do while drawing out-of-towners to a community they might not visit ordinarily. The organizers have hoped some of those visitors patronize local businesses while they are here.
“In early years, the whole family would come, but dads might look at the cars while moms shopped and kids looked for food and other diversions,” Carbone said. “These days, it seems like everyone looks at the cars, whatever else they might do while here.”
Money raised by the event benefits local community organizations, some of which are sponsors of the event or are helping out with volunteers.
Dwight Perry, president of the Castro Valley Rotary, said his group looked forward to taking over the event. They had done so, in fact, just before the pandemic hit and have been waiting two years to actually run it for the first time.
Rotary, whose Castro Valley branch was founded in 1953, is part of an international service organization with 1.2 million members in 33,000 local clubs in over 200 nations. In Castro Valley, they annually sponsor many events to support the community and raise funds for community organizations, notably the annual Chili Cookoff, not back quite yet from the pandemic, and the Rowell Ranch Rodeo Parade, which did return this year.
Carbone, among the founders of the Car Show back in 2006, said it started off small as part of the annual Fall Festival but has grown into its own sizable event. He and friends started it, he said, when they realized they had been traveling all over the state to attend car shows but lacked one in their hometown.