Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Downtown Napanee turned back the clock to circa 1950 on Saturday, celebrating the era of classic cars, pin-up girls and rock and roll during the second annual Guitars n’ Cars.
Just shy of 300 classic cars lined Dundas Street, which tripled the amount of vehicles that turned out the previous year. The number of people walking the streets was significant as well.
“At any given moment there were about 1,000 people on the streets,” said Tiffany Lloyd, executive director with the Downtown Greater Napanee BIA, who organized the event. “They all seemed to be happy and enjoying themselves.”
Along with a fundraising barbecue hosted by Napanee Legion Branch 137, there was live music courtesy of Deja Vu, who specialized in music of the 1950s. Some visitors even went the extra mile of dressing in clothing from that era, including a handful of ‘pin-up’ girls who have become synonymous with that time frame.
Classic cars lined Dundas Street. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
“The band was fantastic,” said Lloyd. “If you see dancing in the street, you know the band is doing a great job. They were perfect for that event and the pin-up girls were amazing, everything was great.”
Last year the event was put together in just over three weeks as a celebration of the completion of phase two of Diggin’ Downtown construction. This year, with more planning and advertising ahead of the event, they drew an even larger crowd.
“I think we would like to have it back next year,” said Lloyd. “We are going to have a wrap up meeting to discuss that finer points, but it looks like everybody was happy with the outcome. Even if we have some points to work through, there was so much positivity that came out of it. I think everyone is excited for it to come back next year.”