Poker Run, however, will still go ahead
By Steve Hubrecht
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The annual Columbia Valley Classics Show and Shine car show in Radium Hot Springs is cancelled this year, due to provincial health restrictions stemming from B.C.’s fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, but organizers will go ahead with the Columbia Valley Classic Car Club Poker Run.
Prior to the pandemic, which cancelled the Show and Shine in 2020 as well as this year, the car show was one of the biggest — if not the biggest — staple on the Columbia Valley’s events calendar, bringing up to a thousand classic cars to the village of Radium Hot Springs along with many more onlookers and classic car enthusiasts.
The event was set for Saturday, Sept. 18, but organizers cancelled in light of re-instated restrictions limiting outdoor gatherings to 50 people. While organizers are understandably disappointed not to be able to host the Show and Shine, they are hopeful for record-setting numbers for the Poker Run (which they were also able to run last year), and which is still set for Friday, Sept. 17.
“The Poker Run’s still going on, everybody will be in their cars, separate, so it fits with the provincial regulations,” organizer, Arnold Scheffer, told the Pioneer.
2021 will be the third year for the Poker Run. The first year, in 2019, the Poker Run drew 45 teams. Last year, there was just under 150, with Scheffer attributing the surge in participation to the fact that many people were in the village with their classic cars, but didn’t have a show to go to.
“This year, with the same situation, we are hoping for even more than 150,” says Scheffer. “We’ve been talking to some of the local accommodators, and it seems quite a lot of people are still coming to Radium that weekend. They’re going to be here, and they’re going to want something to do. Why not the Poker Run?”
The Poker Run is a rally-style event in which teams drive in their cars to various points in the valley (this year there will be one in Edgewater, two in Radium, three in Invermere, and one in Fairmont) and at each stop, they pick up a playing card. The team with the best poker hand of playing cards when they finish is the winner. Prizes will be given for first, second and third place teams.
Normally people return to the Show and Shine car show year after year, meeting up with friends and fellow classic car lovers they first met at the show in years past, explains Scheffer.
“It’s almost like a big family event,” he says. “We were expecting 1,000 cars this year. Because it was cancelled last year, we thought it would be on the busy side this year. It’s unfortunate the show can’t go ahead because there are a lot of people who count on this weekend financially. The motel, restaurants and bars in Radium and in Invermere, it’s a big deal to them. It’s a huge weekend for everybody in the valley. It’s too bad.”
“The car show has been here in Radium longer than I have. When you first experience it, you can’t even put it into words,” Radium mayor, Clara Reinhardt, told the Pioneer. “It’s a huge loss that it’s cancelled. Obviously, there was no choice for the organizers, and they’ve done the right thing…There is an economic value to the car show, but it’s also about the wellbeing of the community. Everybody was really looking forward to it. It’s a great, celebratory kind of event that marks the end of summer in a festive way, and has marked the end of summer for many years.”
Registration for the Poker Run is at 10 a.m. at the Radium Community Centre on Friday, Sept. 17. The event will start around 11 a.m. to noon, and will run until 4 p.m.
