Last weekend was a blast! The 18th Annual Lakeland Auto Show featured some AMAZING automobiles – from classic cars to recent racers, and even a QUADRICYCLE! It was the perfect event for car enthusiasts.
I’ve always loved cars for the aesthetics – Corvette Stingrays, to be exact. Now, I’m expanding my knowledge to learn about the car community (and I’ve got my eye on the Corvette Z06)!
Lakeland Auto Show Basics
This three-day, weekend extravaganza kicked off with the Budweiser Hot Rod Rendezvous on Friday – an outdoor concert and introduction to the competing cars.
The auto show took place on Saturday, October 21 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. I attended the Saturday show, and wow, there were A LOT of cars!
The event wrapped up on Sunday with the Road Tour – a special event where enthusiasts paraded around in the cars and received awards for Best in Show, Classics, Muscle Cars, Foreign Sports Cars, etc.
The event was FREE with FREE PARKING (street and garage). I rant and rave about this stuff. The more money we save, the better, and the more fun we can have just walking in.
There were a few food trucks and tents selling food at the show. Since the event was in downtown Lakeland, guests could easily hit up one of the local restaurants if they weren’t crazy about the show food. I stuck around for a BBQ pulled pork sandwich with some Doritos and water. Mmmm.
Good Ole Lakeland
Lakeland has a special place in my heart. I went to college at Florida Southern College, so I lived in Lakeland for three and a half years! It’s a beautiful, quaint town with plenty of great sunsets and sunrises on the lake – all thirty-eight lakes!
The Lakeland Auto Show took place in Downtown Lakeland and around Lake Mirror, which is just down the hill. This was my first time visiting downtown post-college.
Lively Music, Lively People
Downtown is so clean and cute, and it has such a homey feeling to it!
The cars lined up street to street. I walked down a full street of cars to my left and to my right. The show extended to wrap around most of Lake Mirror. It was a huge car show!
The sports cars parked on the streets. A live, country music band played nearby. Families, couples, and a crowd of all ages walked around to admire the cars.
The ritzier, fancier classic cars were positioned down by the lake. I couldn’t believe how large this show was! The whole atmosphere changed on the concourse with servers dressed up and serving drinks. The music even changed to some live, sophisticated music!
Favorite Cars
Car-munity
People LOVE their cars. It was really encouraging to see how friendly everyone was to share their stories.
Each car owner was excited to share his or her unique experiences. Whether they were the original car owners, or the third car owners, everyone had something to share.
Check out an auto show near you! Here’s a great website with Florida car show events.
If you’re outside of Florida, check out this site for classic car events!
~Twentysomething Vision