Yorkton hosted its first-ever car show at the Gallagher Centre on Sept. 4 and Moose Jaw’s Next Gen Car Club (NGCC) played a major role, rolling in with a whole team and taking home two of the inaugural awards.
“So our team brought home the Best Team/Club Award, and then our Honda S2000 brought home Best Wheels,” said Austin Murray, one of the club’s organizers.
Murray has been with the club from its inception — the S2000 with its bright pink wheels is his ride, which he’s put a great deal of passion, time, and money into. His friends help him modify the vehicle as well.
“We’ve got a very wide following,” Murray said. “We have about 7,400 followers on Instagram, and around 2,800 Facebook groups members, so that’s a lot.”
The club is an inclusive group, welcoming anyone with an enthusiasm for cars — so-called motor- or gear-heads.
“We just want to get people out who enjoy cars and share the same passion as us. The car community is built by people, so as long as you share the passion, you don’t necessarily have to have a nice car.”
The NGCC brought a club booth to Yorkton and lined up six of their cars next to it. A few more cars owned by club members were scattered through the parking lot.
Murray is happy with the club victory and that his car won an award also, although he doesn’t claim the hot pink rims are universally popular.
“I wouldn’t say everybody loves them, a lot of people hate them,” he laughed. “A lot of people love them too, they’re definitely something different that pops out.”
There were 50 to 60 cars at the Indoor Automotive Exhibition. Murray praised the organizers for how well everything went — especially for a first-time effort.
NGCC has had a non-stop summer. Club members convoyed some of their “whips” to Calgary for a show there. Members also travelled to Edmonton and Toronto to set up their booth at those big-city exhibitions. In addition, they've held events such as pop-up car shows nearly every weekend.
The biggest events for the club each year are their season opener and their season closer.
“Our season opener was May 22,” Murray said. “Tatawaw Park is a super beautiful place, so it’s a nice little stroll in the park, with beautiful cars. We also make a donation to the food bank and we ask people to bring non-perishables to donate.”
The opener featured a DJ, awards, giveaways, vendors, and more.
The season closer is Sept. 25 in Tatawaw Park from 1 to 5 p.m. There will be a limbo competition for lowest car, a bass competition where the bassheads will do hair tricks and demos and see who has the best and loudest sound system, and the fan-favourite exhaust competition — featuring jets of flame, loud noises, and a rowdy atmosphere. The closer has nearly 600 people signed up through Facebook already.
Find the NGCC on Facebook to stay up to date with their activities and participate in their obsession with them: facebook.com/nextgencarclub.
