Cultivating Community Correctly
Hi Friends!
Once again, yesterday I hosted the Phoenix Children’s Concours in the Hills at Fountain Park in Fountain Hills, Arizona. Approximately 1,000 vehicles graced the lawn around the lake, somewhere in the vicinity of 60,000 people attended and over $430,000 was raised (at the time of writing – donations are still being tabulated) to benefit the hospital. It was an undeniably spectacular event and in my opinion is not only one of the best community-based car shows in the world, but the best annual automotive event held in Arizona.
The layout of vehicles was truly amazing as well. Everything was represented, from Pebble Beach quality Concours type cars, to restored and active military and police vehicles, to late model exotics and hypercars, retro selections, quirky JDM machines, Hotrods, American Muscle, you name it. Everything was there and the quality was exceptionally high across the board. Best in Show was a 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB (definitely one of the nicest I’ve ever seen) and my personal favorite was a 1952 Jaguar C-Type race car. Ferrari Club of America held its own, separate competition and that overall winner was easily one of the best 348s in existence.
Additionally, the event featured several significant motorsports legends at the kickoff with a flyover from a handful of vintage aircraft, provided by the Falcon Warbirds Foundation. The weather was beautiful, the venue outstanding and camaraderie was top-notch. As I observed the day progress from the stage, I saw all people, from all walks of life, joining together and celebrating their commonalities and their differences alike, all through their collective appreciation of the automobile. There’s very few things in the world that can unite people and accomplish something like this and it was truly something amazing to behold.
Still, I had this weird feeling that something was missing. As I thumbed through social media between announcements and interviews/discussions it hit me. A handful of the usual suspects, that tend to be in and around virtually every car event didn’t seem to be present. Obviously, with a crowd that’s large, I couldn’t possibly see everybody, but as I clicked on their profile links, there were none of the ever-present selfies, no stories and a clear and highly abnormal degree of silence coming from virtually all of them.
It suddenly dawned on me what the likely culprit for this was. This is an environment where it is virtually impossible to be snooty.
A few weeks ago, we discussed exclusivity here. I’ll be the first to admit, this event had a little to none of that. In my opinion, that’s one of the things that makes it so special. I’m sure the argument can be made that without exclusivity, the expectation of quality decreases. The fact is however, this is always a very high-quality event and it continuously gets higher quality every year, so I’m not sure that argument really holds up. The judging, while not particularly segmented all the way still exists, judges are qualified and class wins and Best in Show are honors that are desired by participants. People arguing that shows like this are ” not real Concours events” are likely to have a hard time selling that idea too.
So, what would keep these people from wanting to participate and be a part of something like this? From where I stood yesterday, it looked like a lack of the ability to tell people on social media that you’re better than they are was definitely a likely reason. Sure, there’s a certain panache and a real degree of earned accomplishment that comes from having your picture taken next to a pre-war Rolls-Royce on the lawn of Pebble Beach or next to a recently unveiled hypercar at The Quail, but is that really why you’re supposed to be there? These events (no matter what they are) should always be about sharing your love of the automobile, expanding your horizons therein and exchanging ideas with like minds first. Nearly 60,000 people showed up and were able to accomplish this yesterday and with order and it was an absolutely outstanding day as a result. These are the people that grow this hobby and this industry. They are the ones that we want to cultivate and encourage. This event is bigger than any one person or organization. It’s about community and that’s something that we should really all be about.
I can’t wait to do it again next year……
That’s it for this week……
Darin Roberge