Join us for the 15th annual RetroFest ™ celebration. It’s true…I counted the plaques on the wall and there has been 14 years of RetroFest-Fun. This year May 22 and 23 in the “Classic Car Capitol of Southwestern, Ontario. In what is sure to be another great year for RetroFest ™ events. There will be hundreds of collector cars gather on the streets of Chatham’s historic downtown core. Joining the selection of exceptional automobiles, will be a number of fun activities including the OLG Classic Car Cruise, Movie in Tecumseh Park, and a host of other nostalgic fun for the entire family!
Friday Evening, May 22
OLG Classic Car Cruise
Starting at the John D. Bradley Convention Center, 565 Richmond Street, rolling out onto Richmond Street at 6:00 p.m., participants will cruise along the Thames River entering downtown Chatham around 7:00 p.m.
Once the cars have reached King Street West, they will loop the main street for as long as they like. Then they can stop and visit the local bars and restaurants or wander over to Kings Commons in front of the Downtown Chatham Centre to list to a live band play and just enjoy the atmosphere.
At Dusk, families will be gathering in the Tecumseh Park for a free open air movie sponsored by the Chatham-Kent Health Unit. This year’s movie will be “Strange Magic”. You can see the movie trailer by clicking HERE . Come with the whole family but dress according to the weather. You can bring lawn chairs and blankets. Mr. Popper will have his fresh made Kettle Corn available to purchase.
Saturday, May 23
Kent Historic Auto Club Annual Car Show
Pre-Registration is requested.
We will begin at 9:00 a.m. at the corner of King Street West and Fifth Street. Participation plaques will be given to the first 300 people who registered. Please note the show is limited to classic cars, 1990 and older.
Party Time DJ will be on the corner of King and 5th street, playing music and making all the announcement. Don’t forget to go up and say hi to Shawn!
Entertainment
Vendors will be setting up in Tecumseh park with lots of food, crafts and candy.
There will be Junior Judges again this year sponsored by Hagerty. They will teach the kids what to look for and how to grade a classic car. The Junior Judges will give their own plaque to what they think deserves their award. If your girl or boy wished to be a junior judge this year, contact the HDTC-BIA office (info@downtownchatham.com)
We will be having a Soap Box Derby for the kids on William Street. You must have your own car and it must meet the Soap Box Derby requirements.@ http://www.hsra.ca . The Optimist Club of Chatham along with HSRA has agreed to assist us with this event again this year. There will be prizes handed but you must register and registration starts at 9:00 am.
Activities in the Tecumseh Park:
We are still working on all the details but we tell you what we have so far…
We will again have the full metal bumper cars in the middle of the park. We also have an inflatable Zip Line this year with a couple of bouncy castles for the littler ones.
With the Sponsorship of the Boardwalk Condos, we are planning on two bands on the stage. In the morning we will have Yesterday’s Child and in the afternoon we will have Superfly!
Not far from the Tecumseh Park is the Kent Havoc Rugby Team in their Southwest Rugby Championship. Their regular season starts May 23rd. vs their arched nemesis the Windsor Rogues. Kick-off will be at 1:30 pm. Victoria Park, the old CCI HS field.
On the field it is like “organized chaos” that players all work together. We need to communicate to one another and try to predict what the other team is doing. Every player has a role to fill assumed by position and body type. It is a rather intense sport, but after the game is done, we host our opponents down at the Legion(corner of William and Colborne) for some food and cold beverages. It is rugby tradition for the home club to host the traveling team.
The majority of activities for both the KHAC Car Show and the activities in the park will run from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm.