1st P.E.I. car show of the season 'just keeps growing every year': organizer

Hundreds of cars, trucks, tractors and vintage vehicles from across Atlantic Canada motored into Charlottetown Sunday for the ninth annual Atlantic Dream Machine Show and Shine.

It was the first major car event of the season on P.E.I., and organizer Darren Boutilier said it's exciting for owners to take their vehicles out after a "long winter."

"They get to look at them in the garage or they look at the pictures because they're stored away somewhere, so they're pretty excited to see them coming out and then enjoying them," he said.

Boutilier said just over 260 vehicles were pre-registered for the show, an increase of between 30 and 40 over last year.

"It just keeps growing every year," he said.

A family tradition

Madison Snell was at the show with her family and her dad's 1938 Chevrolet Master Deluxe.

"My dad always grew up with so many cars and he passes the knowledge down and it's really cool to just continue the tradition," she said.

'You become a family'

Ann Paterson from Penobsquis, N.B., was there to show her 1979 Chevrolet El Camino.

This is her first car show on P.E.I., but she's been going to shows in New Brunswick for about five. She said it's not just about the vehicles on display, but the sense of community.

"My husband and I used to show horses, draft horses, and you become a family," she said. "And car people are pretty much the same; you get to know them from other areas and you usually only see them through the car show season."

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