Some old, some new, some decked with extra trimmings and others bare bones – all the pride and joy of their owners, 500 of the cars to feature in Summernats 35 made their way down Northbourne Avenue this afternoon. Crowds lined the drag for a glimpse of the vehicles as they passed by in the annual City Cruise, which signals the start of the festivities.
Before the tyres hit the asphalt, Summernats Co-owner Andy Lopez exclaimed how excited they were for the weekend of fast cars, great music, and partying. He says that while most of Canberra has left to go to the coast, Summernats draws crowds here and offers our biggest economic boost outside of Floriade.
Mr Lopez says, on average, the car lovers who attend the festival inject around $30 million into the local economy; however, this year he anticipates it to be as much as $35 million.
“What that $35 million translates to is these businesses having foot traffic, people spending money, young people having jobs, casual staff, accommodation, restaurants,” he says.
For the first time in the car festival’s history, car entries had to be capped, with over 2,700 vehicles set to roll through Exhibition Park this weekend.
Mr Lopez says that going by ticket sales, they are expecting 10,000 people to be in attendance across the four days. For those who don’t have a ticket or might be Summernats-curious, there is the Fringe Festival held in Braddon on Friday and Saturday nights. Locals and guests will be able to attend for free to see a selection of Summernats’ finest vehicles, catch some live music and visit the local eateries.
Mr Lopez took a moment to reminisce about Summernats founder Chic Henry, who passed away in April last year. He says Mr Henry was a visionary who set out to create something unlike anything else, putting everything on the line during the first few years. Summernats embodies what Chic Henry was about and he was the type of guy who wouldn’t want them to stop and take pause; he would want them to party hard – which is exactly what they plan to do this year, Mr Lopez says.
“He’s on our shirts this year, he’s on our grandstand. The Summernats was created by Chic and grown into something really unique and special. His fingerprints and DNA will be all over this event and all the other ones we do around the country much like this for time immemorial,” Mr Lopez says.
The crowd waited patiently for the gentlemen (and women) to start their engines. The faces in the crowd included families and friends who had travelled from Perth, Melbourne and Queensland for the festival, while others ducked out to be part of the excitement during their lunch break.
With cars now and well truly across the starting line, things switch into full gear when they arrive back at Exhibition Park for an evening of burnouts and elite car unveilings tonight.
Tickets are still available for Summernats 35 at Exhibition Park, 5-8 January; summernats.com.au
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