Pre-Purchase Inspection

The Down East Region has long contemplated organizing a dedicated charity event, but the right cause and the right venue always seemed elusive. That all changed when Gerry Giordano of the DER spoke to Dr. Larry Taub of the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf, located on picturesque Mackworth Island in Falmouth. Gerry and Dr. Taub knew each other from the Rotary Club, and that fact alone made for a quick series of negotiations that would lead to our first Mackworth Island Show & Shine. On July 25^th, the DER teamed up with the Falmouth Rotary Club and the Baxter School to open the island to 75 cars and their owners for a fun car show with the proceeds going to benefit the Baxter School’s Family Outreach Program. This program was a three-day weekend event that allowed families with hearing-impaired children to visit the school with the goal of learning about the facility, the staff, and the curriculum. State budget cuts reduced this important program down from three days to one! The DER said that we’d be interested in helping to restore this program back to the three days that it so obviously deserves to be. In exchange, the Baxter School was willing to allow us to host the car show right on the island! Anyone who has visited the island knows what a spectacular venue this is, and how lucky we were to be granted access to it. This was certainly a win-win situation for everyone. The Rotary Club also expressed an interest in supporting the Baxter School’s cause, and offered to run the food booth as well as provide volunteers for any number of duties. Between the Baxter School, the Rotary, and the DER, over 30 people were involved in the running of this show. It was a great show of participation by all three clubs.

The cars began rolling in around 8:30am, each one contributing a $10 donation to the cause. The cars were directed onto the rolling lawn, which faces directly toward Portland’s Eastern Promenade. Some owners took advantage of pre-registration via the DER website, and this speeded administrative duties at the check-in booth. There was a sizable spectator crowd as well, each adult donating $7, but kids and seniors getting in for a mere $3. An information flyer was provided explaining the details of the Family Outreach Program, and how the car show would benefit this activity.

Part of the great turn out of people and cars at the the Show & Shine. A bigger turn-out next year will require very careful planning of show car parking!

While the intent of the show was to put sports cars, restored classics, and antiques on display, some hot rods showed up as well and were welcomed along with all the others. It made for an eclectic mix on the show grounds, and one couldn’t help but be astounded by the sheer variety of cars on display. There was a late-1960’s Citroen sedan in one corner, a Lamborghini Diablo at the other end, and in between were Porsches, BMW’s, Jaguars, Mercedes, Ford Mustangs, Ferrari’s, Datsun 2000 roadsters, and a rare British Daimler 250 that was destined to take home the Best of Show award.

The awards themselves deserve mention. One idea that caught on early in the planning of the Show & Shine was to have “fun” people’s choice judging with a variety of humorous categories that a contender could win. Some of the awards included, “Car I’d most like to drive up to my Mother-in-Law’s house”, “Car most worth having a Second Mortgage for”, and “Car I’d most like to drive on a Race Track. It seemed that the vast majority of spectators and participants voted, and each of the winners received a plaque inscribed with their car’s new title! The fun categories seemed to be a pretty popular idea, and many show-goers delighted in selecting their favorites.

Andy Field came all the way down from Bangor for the Show & Shine! His 911 has a really unique iridescent paint job that sure got its share of crowd attention!

The Rotary Club’s food booth was busy for the bulk of the day, and they raised a total of $700 for the cause. Area supermarkets donated the food; so all proceeds went straight to the Baxter School! Those Rotarians have plenty of experience running the food booth, and the result was a darn good lunch for a very reasonable price! It should be noted that the National PCA organization donated $350 towards the final goal, demonstrating the PCA’s strong support of local charity efforts.

When the receipts were counted, the Mackworth Island Show & Shine had netted $2863 for the Baxter School’s program. We had been thinking that anything over $1000 would have made the event worthwhile, but we never planned on almost three times that! The Baxter School was delighted with the turnout, the donation, and the thrill of running the event itself. Dr. Taub personally expressed to the crowd how important this program is to the Baxter School and it’s effort to help Maine’s hearing-impaired children, and furthermore how useful this donation would be in assisting them in restoring the program back to its former glory.

All parties consider the first Mackworth Island Show & Shine to be a huge success, and there’s already talk of next year’s event. Many frequent show-goers remarked that we could easily double the number of cars next year, so we had better be ready for a even bigger effort next year! If you didn’t make it this year, you missed a good one, but you can catch round two next summer! You won’t want to miss this one for sure!