Syracuse Nationals Car Show
We decided to travel down to Syracuse from Ontario to see what was being promoted as the largest car show on the east USA. We had no idea what to expect, but decided to spend two days there and stay overnight in a hotel.
We arrived mid day on Friday 15th July 2011 and parked pretty close to the fairground – parking was free. We had to walk over a walkway which crossed over the main road to get the the fairground area where the event was taking place.
The entrance fee was $17 and I was a little frustrated that they did not offer multi-day tickets. We had to purchase tickets for this day then come back the next and buy them again. We purchased a program too which was $5 but every hour a number was drawn to win $100. Our program number was 10041 and 10033 got drawn – so close yet so far!
We decided to use this afternoon to wander round and get to know where everything was and the come back the next day to take photos etc. The heat was almost unbearable – well into the 90′s, so we drank plenty of water and had several ice creams. The prices for food, beverages etc was very good and did not seem to be inflated for the show.
Anyway, this is a car show and boy did they have cars. Apparently there were over 6,000 there and I can well believe it. I have never seen so many custom cars, hot rods, classics etc. They came in every style and every colour.
I was hoping we would win the lottery whilst we were there so we could buy a few, but it was not to be. A good proportion of the cars on show were for sale, so if you are in this market it was definitely the place to be.
In addition to the cars were hundreds of vendors selling everything a car enthusiast could want from engine parts, to t-shirts. There were some odd vendors there too selling baths and windows – but they didn’t look busy!
We did not get around the whole site during the first afternoon as it got too hot and we decided to go to our hotel and come back the following morning.
The Saturday was busier as we had expected as more people were off work, but because we got there early the heat was almost bearable. We went row by row through the cars and I think we saw pretty much all of them. It was an amazing couple of days and we cannot wait to go back again next year.
There was a also some special guests from Happy Days, signing autographs etc. Joanie was there as was Henry Winkler aka Fonz. He was definitely the most popular and people were lining up for ages to see him. I didn’t other but managed to get a very good photo of him anyway.
Henry Winkler - Fonz at Syracuse Nationals
A brilliant show for car fans, even if like us you know nothing about the actual vehicles, you just admire their beauty.
More photos can be seen in my photo gallery:
