Proposed Changes to Cruiser Days for 2016 (1 Viewer)

[AJAEbj42]

At the meeting tonight, I proposed that Cruiser Days be altered next year.


Reasons?

For the past three years we have hosted the event with the 4WDABC to bolster membership in the 4WDABC and we used our strength as a large club with volunteers, experience with car shows, buying power for prizes, shirts, renting the facility, etc to help this happen.

At the 2015 show, with a showing of more than 250 trucks of which 30-40 were land cruisers, I got to thinking that Coastal Cruisers should step back from hosting the event and allow the 4WDABC to brand this event as their own. Kim and I discussed this prior to the meeting tonight.

I think the message that the 4WDABC brings to the 4X4 community for open access, advocacy, and recreation site adoption is a great one that should be promoted. I am pleased that our club supported this message by taking on Cruiser Days as a multi-club event open to all 4X4's.

Now, the 4WDABC has over 580 members (up from just 35 a few years ago), and continues to gather momentum.

I am proposing that Coastal Cruisers support this initiative and either continue Cruiser Days as a separate event at another smaller venue (I would plan to attend both shows myself)

OR

Host Cruiser Days as a 'club' at the 4WDABC show-n-shine in Mission next year.

Any thoughts on this are welcome; it's simply a proposal at this stage. Feel free to vote above.

Note, that any decision regarding our Cruiser Days event and location will be done via discussion at our monthly meetings. The online vote here is for information purposes only.

 

[WrenchMonkey]

I think just make sure we are a known club at the 4wdabc show & shine. But I think we should be more teritorial, banner have something that we can put on our window like a clear film cling to set ourselves apart and also have a bit of a recruitment drive for ourselves. We as a club need to make more of a statement in our hobby I think we should host more advertized camp weekends and let others attend etc. Hate to say it but more like the herd of turtles. I have been a behind the scenes member of this club due to my own circumstances for a number of years but am hopefull that will change at some point.

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

My suggestion -- invite all the clubs to come, provided they put up a 'standardize' banner ( e.g. 10' by 2' or whatever is easy to order) of their design facing one direction - this would identify all the participating clubs from one vantage point-- be perfect for the the final 'group shot' - useful for the following year's promotion in 2016, attract more people to come, such as US, AB clubs and make good press showing 4WDABC solidarity.
Also more instructional events - by vendors or whoever - would make for a more interesting event.

 

[pbgbottle]

take it back to ideas island for a small show, i would go to both shows .
that is if i am in town ,you keep having it on weekends when i am away Doh!

 

[Fantom]

Considering the recent decline in participation in the club I would think that keeping it large might still benefit us and give us more exposure. I am sure our bank account isn't complaining about the influx of other club's money in the raffles, prizes and shirt sales. Considering the small turnouts the clubs gets for regular monthly meetings (I've been just as guilty of not being able to make it) do we think we could even cover the cost of of CC Days ourselves? or would it be a major loss?
It's a lot easier for people to make one date as well, as opposed to show up to both. Of course some people might not be interested in seeing other types of vehicles or hanging out with other clubs.
Maybe this should be moved into the members section since it is something that would affect members directly.

 

[AJAEbj42]

It's good for discussion, any decision of course will be at a club meeting but we'll discuss it into the new year before any final decision is made.

Financially, Coastal Cruisers hadn't been in the black from a Cruiser Days in the last five years I've been treasurer. This year was the only exception and we profited just over $300.

Cruiser Days is something we do to for the Land Cruiser community and I don't think it's done for the sole purpose of making money for the club, I would say 50% of the trucks attending have not been club members.

Keep the suggestions and discussion coming; it's good to share ideas on this topic for sure.

 

[Deny]

Either segregate at the bigger event, or make a separate event, I would make the trek down (one day, always say when I finish my work truck and would like to see a bunch of Land Cruisers in one spot, and not particularly interested in coming to an event where you have to look at 3 times the jeeps and the odd cruiser in the mix (don't mind them being there, but in a different area and I will decide if I walk over and look at some of them, I already have to look at them on the road everywhere I don't really feel they belong in a Cruiser show and shine, as I always used to go to check out cool cruisers, and I hope that is what the show keeps being. Separate by club, Truck kind, or whatever, but let people pick what they want to see, not just a mix of everything. My opinion, and not a club member so take that for what it's worth

 

[Greg_B]

Not a current CC club member as ya'll know, but I'll throw my 2 bits in. (Ya'll might start seeing my ugly mug again at meetings in the new year).

This will be redundant to what Rob said in his post as I think there is merit in his points. Additionally the CC's should be proud of helping build it to the point where this question is being asked.

The 4WDABC is doing great under the stewardship in place and is making good gains. Would a show-n-shine flown under the banner of the 4WDABC serve the greater purpose better? Would attendance increase even more and cross to other groups better if flown under the 4WDABC banner? I would think it would, but you don't know till you try.

The next question would then be...participate as a sub-group inside the 4WDABC show-n-shine to assist and continue the support for all the 4WDABC does AND also have a separate smaller social event called the Cruiser Days?

I would plan to attend both.

gb

 

[BC40]

And a few more thoughts from the peanut gallery. 'Making the show bigger' has happened, but 30-40 cruisers showing up is about what you'd see at the club summer bbq with the same old cast of characters. maybe the exposure/awareness/funds created by openning the doors to general 4wdabc attendance is the goal, maybe not. I do agree that 4wdabc and its associate member clubs are well served to have a show and shine, but that to me is not cruiser days. May be other factors involved this year but it seems that cruiser attendance was higher as a cruiser-centric event. 2016 being the 25th year for CC it would be a good idea to focus the event back to its roots as a land cruiser show, focus on the history of the club and the progression of toyota 4x4s over the years. Maybe look to what some of the other 4wd clubs for ideas that work, example being roverlanders founders day show which IMO is a good event.

 

[Cruisin']

I agree with those that have stated that there are two separate agendas here. I think a big event that's well attended by various clubs is excellent for the 4WDABC pursuing its goals of bringing awareness to our chosen activity, and bringing all the member clubs together. We should continue to support this as a club, and I think its a great idea to divide the grounds up into clubs both to identify them, and to make it easy to go check out the type of vehicle you're interested in.

But, I also think there's a bunch of dedicated Cruiser heads that would like to have the opportunity to attend a smaller event focussed on Cruisers. Having two separate dates to work into a summer schedule might be a challenge, but of course in my case this year I was away and missed Cruiser Days. If there had been another event I likely would have been able to make that one.

 

[bj70_guy]

I'd like to see it go back to being a smaller, Cruiser only event.
A separate, big 4WDABC show and shine makes sense. I would try to attend both, and likely make it to neither

 

[Road Warrior 808]

I would say Cruisers Days as a sub-group at the 4WDABC hosted event. This would be our chance to showcase our machines and demonstrate how we are committed to Cruisin' like no others. (and indeed should be committed to some sort of institution ). We can put on a display that will be the envy of the show! Whose with me?

 

[Antarctican]

If the event as it sits now gets too much bigger, the Cruisers will be lost in the crowd among the numerous other vehicles (given the ratios of vehicles sold, probably jeeps). Keep Cruiser Days as Cruiser Days.

As far as decline in participation, you only have to look as far as Facebook to see how Malcolm's BC Toyota group does it right: regular meetups for coffee and a run afterwards, planned runs to various places, planned runs for charity, sticker stickers stickers, facebook giveaways, etc. People join, not only wanting to see how someone else set up their IC or where they located their bottle opener on the bumper but - correct me if I'm wrong - wheel in a group once in a while.