Monday, August 04, 2008

MADE-2-ENVY CAR SHOW



With so many events to visit this weekend, I managed to spend some time at the MADE2ENVY car show down on the Strand.

There was a six hour window of no rain mid-Saturday, which prompted large crowds of people to flock to the Rondout and check out the tricked out compact cars owned primarily by a younger demographic.

First, I noticed the vast number of entries; over 200 hot rods lined the curb under the 9W Laughran Bridge. Each one was quite unique in style and financial investment. I know what these car owners are doing cannot be cheap. With today’s expenses: fuel, food and insurance, how can they afford all those after market car parts?

Anyway, I digress. There were a few muscle cars there as well. You can see a large collection of those classics right across the Rondout Creek at the Frozen Rainbow in Port Ewen on Friday nights.

This annual event in Kingston took two days and included drag races and car tug-of-war contests at the Point Beach. They even had live bands playing to entertain the fans and curious tourists. I noticed that even with the lack of parking under the bridge, the restaurants were still quite busy both days.

Good clean fun for so many car enthusiasts, hardly a complaint from anyone. The event went off without a hitch. KPD did have their hands full on our midtown streets for much of the day, but hey, a few tickets and a few warnings, it was all good publicity for Kingston.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm confused about these events - the taxpayer funded waterfront that is otherwise publically accesible is corded off, admissions charged so that someone's pet project makes money? The taxpayer's get stuck paying DPW, Police and sometimes Fire overtime and what the Mayor gets a campaign donation?

Mike - what's the scoop?

Mike Madsen said...

Actually, this one event was free to the public. I, like everyone else walking around, got to wander through the collection of cars and ask questions.
Of course, I used to be a muscle car enthusiast in my youth in Woodstock. I had a '73 Olds SS with a 350 Rocket and Posi-Rear, A '68 Cadi Hearse on a suburban frame 4wd and the list goes on. I wasnt a chrome-nut, but the whole family can build cars from scratch.

The restaurants didnt hint at any noticable decrease in meals because of the daytime schedule, but if this were the Hoolie or St Pattys, the alcohol wouldhave been the weekend profit margin.

Many events held either downtown or Uptown have agreements for the sponsors to cover the costs of clean-up.

Anonymous said...

Why can't people bring their other trash, besides cars, down to the Strand and put them on display? Like old sewing machines, BBque grills, lawnmowers and even an outhouse or two to blend in with that odiferous sewer plant? That place makes second hand smoke smell like perfume when you come out of the Steel House and hurl your meal!...smitty

Anonymous said...

Sounds like your dodging the question Mike. We trust you to tell the truth.

In the Town of Ulster Parks no alcohol or pets are allowed, in Kingston it's booze on the streets and np DWI arrests at KPD for the Holie and dogs crapping at the stadium - we are a dumping ground for more than low income housing.

Anonymous said...

Mike,

Having worked for a while as a hotel receptionist, I can tell folks that the hotels and motels around here fill up as a result of these car enthusiast gatherings - so the local hotels (and some of the diners and restaurants) probably do quite well as a result.

My beef would be about the fact that local vendors are charged a significant fee just to set up at any major event (like the July 4th celebration) - on top of the fees associated with a vending license, insurance, bonds, etc. - and that it is hard for the local vendors to make a buck under those circumstances!

Just some alternate input.

I hope you had a good time!

N.S.

Anonymous said...

These events are political patronage mills which waste taxpayer resources and limits public access to the waterfront.

Anonymous said...

In response to the anonymous poster whos been verbally crapping on the made2envy car show and its hosts, you should show a little respect to a group of young individuals as generous as these. complaining about tax dollars going to waste, and entrance fees going to fund somebodies "pet project" etc, etc. etc..?! yawn, please quit your whining. the m2e car shows are free to the public, and 99% of the money made off entrance fees of those who chose to enter their vehicles gets donated to specified charities, the rest gets spent on trophies for the participants. come to think of it, i just recently attended a car show up at the mall which m2e had no part in whatsoever, and they gave another $1000 to the charity that that particular show was donating all THEIR proceeds to. this is what these people do, they enjoy their cars, their shows, and they give to charity, often. basically what it boils down to, mr. anonymous, is that you're a bitter person, and should find something else to pick apart and complain about because you're argument is completely invalid here .. the majority of the car/enthusiast shows and displays in this area are all held to benefit one foundation or another, and are not thrown to trash the streets and waste your hard earned tax dollars (they're my tax dollars too)... you should really educate yourself a little more about these types of venues before you inappropriately speak your mind and allow other people to realize how foolish you are.