South River car show doubles in size, now eyeing 2025 event

The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Muskoka-Parry Sound is the big winner from this summer's car show in South River.

Event co-organizer Janice Whitelock said the July show brought in at least $4,000 after expenses and that number is expected to rise as more receipts from the show continue to arrive.

This was the second year for the car show at Tom Thomson Park in South River, which more than doubled the number of participants to 621 this year from 300 last year.

See: 600 classic vehicles 'pack the park' at South River event

The event is free to the public. Participants are charged a $20 entry fee and that money goes to the local CMHA.

When Janice and her husband, Art Whitelock, created the car show, the participants’ entry fee in the inaugural year generated $5,000 for the mental health unit after expenses.

“Last year they put the money we raised toward suicide prevention classes and drug overdose training,” Janice said. “They provide a much-needed service.” She said the local CMHA is invaluable because all it has to do is help one person turn their lives around and that makes the program worthwhile.

With the number of participants doubling at this year’s car show, Janice fully expects this year’s contribution to the mental health cause will easily surpass the $4,000 reported to date.

With two successful car shows now in the books, the Whitelocks are preparing for next year’s event on Saturday, July 19, 2025, with the rain day on Sunday, July 20.

The car show is quickly becoming one of the largest motor vehicle events in Northern Ontario.

In addition to attracting more than 600 participants, several thousand spectators walked the Tom Thomson grounds this past July 27 taking in all the muscle cars, drag cars, custom-built vehicles, classic cars, and the list goes on.

Janice said it’s the great cooperation from the Village of South River and the many area businesses that make the event possible and a success. Businesses alone donated more than $20,000 in value for each of the top finishers in the nearly 30 categories that car and truck enthusiasts entered.

“The feeling we get is ‘wow’ because the support is so phenomenal and the money goes to a worthy cause,” she said.

With work now starting on next July’s car show, Janice said she can’t stress enough the need for participants to pre-register. At this past event in July, organizers had to turn away would-be participants who did not preregister.

The pre-registration will begin in January with more information to follow. Participants are a mix of people who belong to car clubs in their respective communities and individuals who just like to show off and talk about their vehicles.

Regardless of whether a participant belongs to a car club or not, Janice said you don’t want to drive several hundred kilometres to South River next July only to be denied entry because of a failure to preregister.

When the Whitelocks first proposed their idea to the South River Council in 2023, the council quickly endorsed it because of the huge economic benefits to the local economy. Council endorsed the initiative again his year.

In addition to food vendors on-site to feed participants and spectators, the car show also provides space for automotive vendors. Janice said that the format will likely remain the same for next year’s show.

The only change the next car show will see is the addition of a few more categories taking that number to about 33 to 34 categories. The variety of categories includes Best in Show, Best Owner Built, Best Custom Built, Best Hot Rod, and Best Street Rod.

A professional judge is brought in from New Brunswick each year to determine the best vehicle in all the categories except two, which are the People’s Choice Award and the Bernie McKenney Memorial Award.

McKenney was a big car enthusiast during his lifetime and also Janice’s dad. She said many of her family values come from her father and when it's time to announce the memorial award, it will be the Whitelocks who make that determination.

Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Almaguin News. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.