Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
Introducing "Rotary Community Heroes of Hope" - a podcast dedicated to showcasing the profound impact of Rotary in District 5330 and beyond. Join us as we explore the remarkable stories of rotary heroes and initiatives that are transforming communities and creating hope around the world.
Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
EPISODE 39 - Reviving Community Spirit: The Story of Riverside's Show and Go
What happens when a beloved local event undergoes significant changes but still manages to captivate thousands? Join us as we sit down with Ken Gutierrez, president of the Riverside East Rotary Club, and Finn Comer, the dynamic co-chair of the Show and Go fundraiser, to explore the fascinating evolution of Riverside's iconic car show. From its beginnings as a three-day event complete with drag races to its current format of a vibrant one-day show and live cruise through downtown, Ken and Finn share the highs, the hurdles, and the heartfelt moments that have defined this community staple since 1998.
The secret sauce behind Show and Go's enduring success lies in its incredible community support, and no one knows this better than our guests. In this episode, you’ll hear about the powerful partnerships with organizations like Teen Challenge, Riverside Community College, and Lincoln High School, which fuel the event’s logistics and spirit. Discover how you can get involved, whether through volunteering, attending Rotary meetings, or sponsoring this remarkable event that unites car enthusiasts and community supporters alike. Mark your calendars for the first Saturday in May and prepare to be inspired by the stories of dedication and teamwork that make Show and Go an annual celebration not to be missed.
Welcome to the Rotary Community Heroes of Hope. I'm your host, judy Zulfikar, and I'm thrilled to be joined by my amazing co-host, jamie Zinn, district Governor of Rotary District 5330. Together, we will take you on a journey to discover the incredible impact Rotarians have on our community and around the world. Get ready to be inspired by our Rotary Heroes of Hope, by our Rotary Heroes of Hope, jamie. We have a very interesting topic for our episode today, and we have Ken and Finn here that are going to tell us about the Show Go fundraiser.
Speaker 2:I believe that you went to that a few days ago. I did go to it and it was a show and boy did it go. So it was fantastic. Lots of people. I'm not going to spill any of the news. I will let them talk about it, but it was a great, great fundraiser, wonderful outreach for Rotary.
Speaker 1:Well, let's jump right in it and let's hear all about it. Ken, can you introduce yourself and tell us what Rotary Club you're from?
Speaker 3:Sure, Happy to do that, ken Gutierrez and I'm the president this year of the Riverside East Rotary Club.
Speaker 1:Wonderful congratulations, and Finn.
Speaker 4:I'm Finn Comer and I am a co-chair for the show and go car show that we do annually.
Speaker 1:All right. So who wants to tell us about what is the show? And go car show.
Speaker 4:Ken, I'm going to hijack you and I want to tell about it because actually I've been involved with it longer than Ken has.
Speaker 1:Oh, there you go.
Speaker 3:Just a quick, a quick note. I knew about show and go from the moment Finn came into City Hall to get the first permits, because I was working in city hall at the time um, I was not a member of rotary at the time. Oh, wow, I remember when finn, you know, coming in and talking about show and go, uh, and learning how to you know, close streets and do everything the city requires, um, and it's a major task oh, so you really do have some knowledge, but you're gonna just hide there for a little bit.
Speaker 2:Is that what we're hearing?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Finn has it all. He's been doing this from the onset All right Awesome.
Speaker 4:So Ken was the planning director at City Hall for years, and so he used to actually help us through trying to figure out how to do a car show. So in 1998, a group of hot rodders called the Old Forks Racing Team I love that name.
Speaker 4:But to do a car show in downtown Riverside and they are not the most legitimate group in the world. So they, what they did is they went to Rotary and said hey, rotary, you know we can do a car show as a charity event, but we're kind of a little bit scruffy group and if you guys we can organize the car show, if you guys can handle the money on the car show. And as it rolled out, they wanted to do a cruise on Friday night and then do a cruise on Saturday and then go to the Riverside Airport on Sunday and do a drag race. Oh, wow, what was called the North-South Runway? Do you remember that, ken? I do, yeah. So with that we started working and planning it and we, in essence, on Friday night, would close the streets and then it would be a cruise similar to what somebody my age used to do back in high school. We'd cruise Market Street and downtown Riverside and, ken, you grew up in LA so you probably cruised Whittier Boulevard.
Speaker 1:I know in Missouri where I grew up, we actually cruised from the car wash to the Sonic and back.
Speaker 2:Okay so you don't want to hear that. Where I grew up, it was an entire block was the cruise zone. That's it A whole, block A whole block was the cruise zone.
Speaker 4:So yeah, we'll leave it at that small town so with that we started working on this cruise and it became apparent that it was probably a little bit bigger ordeal than what it was. Because, um, as when you came out to the event you saw that we close much of downtown Riverside off and have vehicles come in and then have a live cruise which is different than many car shows in Southern California today. So it's a live cruise. So we started that in 1998. So we started that in 1998. And by over time the drag race at the Riverside Airport became something that we could not do because the airport director got tired of our burnout pit and doing $15,000, $20,000 to the runway every year. So we we had to stop that. And then in the last couple of years we stopped the Friday night show because it became very, very popular and it's difficult to close streets when, as Riverside has grown, it's a big community now and you just can't close all these streets on a Friday night when people are trying to go home. And that's changed also. So now it's a Saturday only show. So initially it was a three day show and now it is a two day excuse me, a one day show. So so we we have register them online and they'll register up until a few days before the event and for the last five or six years we had a couple of years off during COVID. But the last five, six, seven years we've always sold the event out at a thousand hot rods. Years we've always sold the event out at a thousand hot rods. And so the odds and the individuals that come out to the event uh, pay a $60 registration fee. It's fantastic that they support the event and pay a registration fee. And we then also go out and ask for sponsors. And Stater Brothers, for the last four or five years, has been the main sponsor of the event and they bring us $20,000 to help underwrite the cost of everything it takes to do to fund the event. And it's an expensive event to put on, but Stater Brothers, because they're such a good corporate citizen, helps fund the event. And there's other local groups Polish Design Image they give us $2,500 every year and they're on the T-shirt.
Speaker 4:K&n Engineering, who started in Riverside. They have been with us for years. There's a company called Flat Out Rides that they were there this year and they're trying to get more involved. There's another group that came this year I don't know, and Ken correct me, it's Shine for Fun, shine for Good, shine for Good. And that's a group that came and it was their first time and we had no idea about what they do and what they're working on. But it's a group of old hot rodders that have worked in the industry that are trying to support children with disabilities. So they came and they got from Richard, our program and said, oh, you guys support ARC and said, can we give you some money? So they gave us a check for a thousand dollars at the show.
Speaker 1:Nice.
Speaker 4:So it was fantastic. So they showed up and just you know, there was no ask or anything from them. It was out of the goodness of their hearts and so they did that.
Speaker 1:So you had a thousand cars. How many guests did you have at the show and go this year?
Speaker 4:There were. So there's a thousand cars and so there's one or two people per car and so, in addition to that, so the participants pay to come be part of the event. So because this event's gone on for years, many people in the local community know that it's the first weekend of May for the last 25 years that it's the show and go car show. So there were probably 10 or 15,000 people in and around Riverside and they may not all be from Riverside but in close proximity that come to, in essence, a free event so they can come down and view what goes on in the car show and look at cars. And it's a family-friendly event and they just get to come down and see it and it doesn't cost them anything to come down and participate by walking around and looking at the event.
Speaker 2:So Very cool and there were lots of people there looking, walking and tell them. You also have other folks that are there. You have vendors that are supporting you as well. We saw lots of those as we were walking around as well.
Speaker 4:we saw lots of those as we were walking around. Yeah, so there's vendor lot that we have participants, vendors, excuse me, that are selling um and doing automobile related stuff. We have both riverside police department, california highway patrol, uh, and other automobile related vendors that come there and, you know, participate and pass out things, as well as food vendors. So you know we start early in the morning or earlier than everybody wants out, four or five in the afternoon and it runs about four or five in the afternoon. And then we wrap up for the day and clean up the streets annually every year because we've got a bunch of different volunteer groups from Riverside Community College to police, the event with picking up trash and doing all those things. So they do that.
Speaker 4:And then Athens Disposal this year, which is a local trash company, they came on and became a sponsor and they didn't charge us for their disposal services and all the equipment that they delivered to us this year. So that was real positive also. So I think this year the event will do good and that's kind of the whole thing. Ken, do you have any words of wisdom or did I miss anything that you that you want to add into it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think what I'd like to say is that you know I'm a city planner, so any event that builds community and draws people together is exciting, and this car show does that. If you get 10 or 15,000 people coming downtown, you know, on a Saturday, and you know not only frequenting, you know our vendors, but going to the local restaurants, going to the museums, doing other things while they're downtown, you've just created a positive impact. You know, for the city, you show off the city, which is why the city continues to sponsor the event and provide some services to us that we wouldn't otherwise get. The other thing that makes this event unique and, jamie, you mentioned that this at the beginning is that it's not just show, it's go. So people come to see cars, but it's not just seeing. You're sensing it, you know with your nose and with your ears. I mean I think I lose probably, you know, three months of my life every time I go down there and breathe in all those fumes.
Speaker 2:Well, and you know, you have Richard out there who's announcing, and so he is promoting the sponsors, he's promoting the vendors, he's promoting what's going on with the event, the businesses that are around there having people do it. He gets them to participate and say how they feel about it and it's pretty, it's a very wonderful speaker system. I will say that because I was standing right in front of one.
Speaker 2:But, it has a wide, wide range of being heard. So it is fantastic and, Ken, you know, I think, one of the main things obviously you do this to support your community. So tell us and the viewers you've made a wonderful profit for fundraising on this event. Tell us what you do with those funds. Tell us how you're impacting your Riverside area.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's why we do it. We raise money to be able to give it away, and the community benefit is not just for those people that come to the show, it's the money raised. Now we can help Habitat for Humanity build the Mulberry Village for unhoused people. We can help Big Brothers, big Sisters, you know, in their mission. I already mentioned Arc Riverside, which works with intellectually disabled adults, adults, and we help them. The Art Museum, the Riverside Arts Academy, which provides free music lessons to underprivileged youth. I mean the range goes on. We have about 40 different groups that we're able to sponsor with the money that we raise.
Speaker 2:That's really outstanding to see all the projects that they do.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and how many volunteers are you, do you think that are there helping you create this big event?
Speaker 3:I'm going to let Finn help in on this one, but you know our 35 members almost all show up but we could not do it by ourselves. You know it takes the Riverside Community College car show, it takes Teen Challenge. Who else, finn? The church that helps with pickup trash?
Speaker 4:Yeah, there is Well. So in addition to Riverside East Rotary, there's probably 30, 35 people from the old Forge racing team that come out and run stuff. So we had from Teen Challenge, we had either 25 or 30 people that came out from that Riverside Community College. They've got a car club that does, uh, their stuff. They had 15, 20 kids come out Lincoln high school. Um, they've got an auto club and they always have kids come out and we had kids from, I believe, both North high school and Notre Dame high school come out.
Speaker 4:And then there's a local church that comes out and offers to pick up trash for the event and they, they all come out and help and support it and do that. So, so, in addition, there is a lot of community support and people that work on the event and it and it's really really nice and fun to see kids that come out year after year after year. There's a local, there's a rotarian, uh, gary echido, and gary has been in a rotary club for ken you know better than I do, probably 40 some years His grandson, marcus, who is in the Navy. He's in his 13th year of the Navy. He's been coming out since he's been 10 years old and so he's almost 30 years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's. He's grown up with your program. It really is a great example of how Rotary continues to work in collaboration with other nonprofit organizations and civic organizations in our communities, as well as collaborating with the city. Obviously, you've had to work very closely with the city to be able to shut down streets in Riverside. It's quite busy there. So great example of everybody kind of working together for one good cause Absolutely.
Speaker 2:So I'm sure, because you probably have at least a couple hundred volunteers. There are folks out there that have that same passion, whether it be for cars or for rotary or for volunteering. How can they get involved in this? How can they help you out? And of course, we know that you will always take donations and sponsorships to help promote this program. But how do they reach out to you to show an interest, whether it be in Rotary, or help you with this program?
Speaker 4:Well, ken, I'll speak to. Showandgoorg is the website that we've had, so they can go to that and then, but of course, if anybody's interested in coming to a Rotary meeting sometime, we would love to have them at a meeting and we meet seven o'clock in the mornings in downtown Riverside. So, and, ken, if you want to.
Speaker 3:Yep Seven o'clock Wednesday mornings at the Civil Rights Institute in downtown Riverside. You know, I think the secret sauce of Rotary in many ways is that connectivity. We can't do it ourselves but we know how to get things done. We know how to bring different people together, and show and go is just a classic example of all these groups that pitch in to help and then the money of course goes to support other groups and they connect with each other and it just kind of grows in a mushroom. So you know we're excited about that.
Speaker 1:Well, we're really happy that you guys came and talked to us about it. I can't wait to get out there and see it next year. Yes, do and uh first Saturday in May. Okay, I'll put it on my calendar.
Speaker 2:She needs to put it on her calendar now because her calendar is going to get way full way fast.
Speaker 3:It will. So, Judy, put it on your calendar now. We'll have you out in the center of the street talking to Richard over that great PA system that Jamie talked about.
Speaker 1:Oh, oh, yes, yes, another opportunity to talk.
Speaker 2:There you go. Richard had to pull the mic away from me. You know, rotary, rotary. We'll talk about it.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, thank you, gentlemen, we appreciate you coming out and spending the time with us today.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you. You guys have a great day. All right, bye.
Speaker 1:So that wraps up this episode of Heroes of Hope. We are so happy that we have an audience out there listening. We want you to subscribe, share and tell your friends about the Rotary Community Heroes of Hope, because that's how we get the word out about the impact we're having in this world.