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<\/p>\nBy JEFF CLEMETSON |\u00a0College Times Courier<\/p>\n
El 3 de mayo, las familias a lo largo de las carreteras residenciales que se extienden desde Rolando hasta Talmadge disfrutaron de un peque\u00f1o entretenimiento de domingo por la ma\u00f1ana: un desfile de exhibici\u00f3n de autos con una variedad de autom\u00f3viles cl\u00e1sicos, antiguos y antiguos.<\/p>\n
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The car show was organized by Cars & Coffee, an informal group of car enthusiasts who met on the first Sunday every month in the parking lot of the Chase Bank at the corner of El Cajon Boulevard and College Avenue. However, for the last two months the group had not been able to hold any events, first due to rain in March and then due to the coronavirus outbreak in April. Organizers thought May\u2019s event would be cancelled too until late in April, a new plan was formed.<\/p>\n
\u201cA neighbor of mine had a drive-by surprise birthday party for her and that gave me an idea,\u201d said Cars & Coffee organizer Newell Booth. \u201cI thought, \u2018Wow, instead of having a car show for the neighbors to come look at, we\u2019ll take it to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Booth said he knew the event \u2014 dubbed the Cars & Coffee Social Distancing Tour and Neighborhood Drive-By \u2014 would have a captive audience with people staying at home in self isolation, even those who would normally be at church on Sunday morning. He also knew it would be easy to find cars and drivers for the parade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe car people are anxious to go somewhere because all our tours are cancelled,\u201d he said. \u201cEverything is on hold for all of the car activities.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In the two short weeks before the parade, Booth laid out the route, got the word out to car clubs throughout the region and advertised the event through social media sites like NextDoor and through neighborhood groups like the El Cerrito Community Council. He set up a website for the event and enlisted the help of a realtor friend who lent him signs to put up along the route, inviting residents to take part. Booth\u2019s wife Gladene also pitched in with the planning and was \u201cjust as enthused\u201d for the parade as he was, even offering up some fun ideas for the participating drivers that brought some levity to the event in these troubled times.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the middle of the show, we had a health inspection,\u201d Booth said. \u201cWe have a circle drive at our home so we drove [the cars] through our circle drive and we had a \u2018doctor\u2019 at one end that aimed a hair dryer at \u2018em and showed \u2018em they had a, you know, fake temperature. Then we sent \u2018em to a \u2018pharmacist\u2019 where we had a funny prescription and gave \u2018em a bag of trail mix.\u201d<\/p>\n
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El evento tambi\u00e9n incluy\u00f3 una colecta de alimentos enlatados para los bancos de alimentos locales.<\/p>\n
On the day of the parade, Booth knew the event would bring a good turnout of cars so the meet up for the event was changed from the Chase Bank to the College Area Baptist Church parking lot. A whopping 76 cars showed up for the parade, making it Cars & Coffee\u2019s largest event to date.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt went viral, pardon the pun, mainly because people were ready to get out,\u201d Booth said.<\/p>\n
Cars & Coffee began several years ago as an informal gathering at the Duet Coffee Shop on El Cajon Boulevard. In it\u2019s early years, there would be only five or six cars, one being Booth\u2019s 1906 Buick. When the original organizer for the group announced he was moving away from San Diego, the future of the informal club looked like it was in jeopardy of losing leadership.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe waited around and waited around and on the last time [he organized a show] he said, \u2018I guess it\u2019s going to fold,\u2019 so I raised my hand because nobody was going to take it on,\u201d Booth said.<\/p>\n
Dos meses despu\u00e9s de hacerse cargo, Booth traslad\u00f3 el espect\u00e1culo al estacionamiento del Chase Bank, tambi\u00e9n al lado de Ultreya Coffee and Tea. El grupo se re\u00fane regularmente de 8:30 a 10:30 am el primer domingo del mes.<\/p>\n
With the new location, the Cars & Coffee shows began to steadily attract more members. Booth invited friends from the San Diego Police Museum and the Horseless Carriage Club he belongs to. He also brought in some special events like an annual electric car show.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a very popular one where we get the electrics out and the people that are interested in buying an electric car come talk to the owners and that gets the crowd out in the neighborhood,\u201d Booth said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had every kind of electric car, we have 10 or 15 when we do the electric one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group also recently started doing occasional tours around local neighborhoods. In August, Cars & Coffee invited the Horseless Carriage Club and the Police Museum on a tour through La Mesa and Lemon Grove, stopping at various points of interest along the way.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe gave them an hour long tour of the area, but it was not a parade,\u201d Booth said. \u201cWe saw people of course, but it was not for their entertainment it was for ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the group\u2019s next regular meeting the first Sunday of June, Cars & Coffee is planning a short tour of Rolando, Allied Gardens and Del Cerro at the end of the car show. However, Booth said there are no plans for another parade like the one on May 3.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot that kind,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was too much work.\u201d<\/p>\n