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Summer Auto Fest in hiatus after 2019
Despite the successes of four previous auto fests, car enthusiast and organizer James Fleming said Saturday evening that the car festival would go on an indefinite hiatus after 2019.
Fleming told Saipan Tribune in an interview Saturday evening during the Summer Auto Fest 2018 at the parking lot of the Marianas Business Plaza that the 2019 auto fest would not be followed by one in 2020.
Fleming noted the drop in the numbers of car enthusiast registrants for the car show, saying that the first show in 2015 garnered the most number of registrants at about 80 cars for both competition and display.
Both the 2016 and 2017 editions yielded about 50 participants, while the recently concluded 2018 auto fest yielded the least number of registrants at 38.
“Next year would be our finale, and we would be taking a break after that,” Fleming said “The numbers just aren’t there.”
Displaying car customizations and creations are the life and soul of the car show, he said.
“If the car enthusiasts aren’t [showing up], we don’t want to continue [the car show] and then later figure out that the numbers are dropping,” he said. “If we look at the numbers…and we see there are not many car enthusiasts, it is better to just take a break next year and probably decide [from there].”
The only thing that could get the auto fest out of hiatus would be if there is an increased interest to participate among car enthusiast community in the CNMI. Even with this, Fleming said, the 2019 Summer Auto Fest would be the final car show for the meantime.
Even though the 2019 Summer Auto Fest might be the last in the near-term, Fleming said he is looking to do an all-star sort of competition, where awardees of previous auto fests go head-to-head with one another to declare an overall winner.
“Through this, we at least show that we are appreciative of everybody competing,” he said.
