If you’ve grown used to event cancellations and postponing plans over the last few months, this news should be a welcome reprieve. Organizers of the New Hope Automobile Show announced that “the show must go on.”
The New Hope Auto Show’s back, baby!
The 63rd installment of the annual exhibition will be held Saturday, August 8, on the grounds of New Hope-Solebury High School, 182 West Bridge Street, New Hope. (The rain date is Aug. 9.) This year’s show, understandably, will look different in a number of ways.
“The 2020 New Hope Automobile Show has been carefully planned this year to adhere to all the COVID-19 pandemic regulations established by our state and local governments, as well as the Bucks County Board of Health. Our goal is to provide a safe environment for everyone involved with the show,” reads a statement released by the organizers.
Plan ahead
Among the planned changes, tickets are being sold online. (You can buy them here.) In order to facilitate social distancing at the show, they’ll be limited and available in two-hour windows (9 AM-11 AM, 11 AM-1 PM, and 1 PM-3 PM). Should there be any available tickets during each of those increments, they’ll be sold at the gate on the day of the show for $10. (Online tickets are $6.)
Don’t forget your mask
Every visitor must wear a mask the entire time they’re on the show’s grounds. (Exhibitors and organizers will be wearing them, too.) Entry can be denied if you are not wearing one.
Stay in your lane
Each entrance will have a corresponding path that winds throughout the grounds. Visitors will be required to remain on their assigned path. Don’t worry; you won’t miss anything in doing so. Every car and vendor will be featured along each of the paths.
Expect the cream of the crop
There will be fewer cars than usual, but not by much. Organizers are limiting the field to 150 exhibitors, and they’re aiming to make sure they’re all cars that have been recognized by the likes of the Antique Automobile Club of America and the Classic Car Club of America—the thoroughbreds of the vintage car world, in other words.
Refunds will be available
And, should the show be cancelled—there are no certainties in this day and age—you’ll need to request your refund in writing. You can also ask that the cost of your ticket be applied to next year’s show. While that may sound like a bit of a hassle, keep in mind that the auto show is staged by the New Hope-Solebury Community Association, a nonprofit which spreads the show’s proceeds among college scholarships and local school and community projects. So, if it makes you feel any better, think of the cost of admission as more of a donation.
This thing started as a horse show. Seriously. Since it transitioned to a car show in 1957, it’s become one of the most revered events of its kind in the country. Exhibitors begin jockeying for their spots almost as soon as the previous year’s show ends. However, this time last year, no one saw a pandemic coming. And yet, the show will go on—just as it has for the last 63 years, without exception.
