Every year, the city of Wichita plays host to a large car show, known as the Automobilia Moonlight Charity Car Show. This year there was a potential for it not to happen, but as of last week things are back on track and the car show is in fact in the books. The city and the car show’s main organizer, Joshua Blick, struggled to come to an agreement on the terms in which the car show occurred, but that has now changed. They reached an agreement as of Friday, June 23rd and Wichita’s city officials have now issued the necessary permits for the event to go on smoothly.
The Automobilia Car Show is scheduled for July 8th from 4 p.m. to midnight.
Joshua Blick released a statement speaking happily regarding the agreement, saying they worked through all of the concerns both parties had and that he thinks they were able to create a “really good plan.” This “really good plan” involves most of the same organization and setup as last year’s event, with some changes made to make it run more smoothly and disrupt busy streets in the city a little less.
For example, one way in which they will be doing this is by closing one of the streets the show will be on at 5 p.m. rather than 1 p.m. The city pushed for this change in order to still give the local businesses in that area an opportunity to make money. Many businesses in the area have noticed a steep decline in business when the car show occurs, so over the last few years a number of complaints have been made to the city and this year the city advocated in support of these businesses. Because of road closure alterations, the schedule of the show has changed a bit too, with the classic car show now happening an hour later than it has in the past, at 5 p.m. rather than 4 p.m.
Another large concern of the city when allotting permits for the event was parking.
In the past, parking has been extremely limited, further affecting the foot traffic to the local businesses around the event. The city and event organizer worked together to write a new route for the parade and map a new specific area in which the event will take place.
Several other changes were negotiated to the terms of the permit. All of the changes seemingly will benefit both parties, the car show and the city/local businesses, meaning this year’s Automobilia Car Show should go off without a hitch!
