2. Carlisle Events - Up Close and Personal

Post date: Apr 2, 2015 5:47:50 PM

Will talk more about the various things there - videos, club networking, photo albums, etc - and how they relate to our project car "Lola" ..... but the main thing was that having never been to the event it was/is an excellent resource for learning more.

That said, I was a contractor (golf courses) for over 20 years ... and one of the sayings we used was "there is no substitute for a site visit".

Earlier in March of this year, Shaelyn and I were back in Carlisle, checking in on Lisa's Mom (Dot), working on her house (had been a cold/tough winter out east), and checking out Penn State's local campus for Shaelyn's future plans. We decided to take a chance that someone would be out at the Fairgrounds where Carlisle Event's offices are located .... and dropped in unannounced when we had some free time on a Thursday PM.

We got a warm welcome .... despite the sign prominently displayed on the door - "Visitors by Appointment Only".

The office building is pretty nondescript, It looks like it was part of the original Fairgrounds complex, and has been continually modified over the years to adapt to the continued success/growth of the car shows. Translation - it had a welcoming/comfortable/"homie" feel .... with a business like vibe. Like walking into a living room that had been converted to a combination front office reception area.

We told the folks up front about our plan to drive Lola cross country to the 2015 show. They quickly got Ed Buczeskie, the event manager for the Chyrsler Nationals to come up front to talk with us. Ed immediately invited Shaelyn and I back to his office for a chat. I am a a "newbie" to Mopar car events, but Ed's office has the feel of a lifelong devotee. We chatted about various aspects of the upcoming show. Asked about general setup, registering the car in the "Young Gun" vs the general/open category. Shaelyn is interested in the Daisie Duke competition. Ed graciously answered all our questions, gave us a card ... then took us up stairs and introduced us to Mike Garland (Media Specialist) and Sarah Burkarth (Social Media Coordinator).

We told them about our plans for this website/blog/various social media accounts to document the trip. They also gave us cards and some hash tag info (#CarlisleEvents and #CarlisleChrysler). Note: the business cards were very functional - on the back was a listing of all the events with dates ... yet each person's car had different car graphics on the front - Ed's had Mopar (Charger), Mike's had Corvette and Mustang, and Sarah's had a Land Rover.

We came away feeling welcomed and impressed.

When I went back to the website to learn more about these folks/write this post, I came across this quote from Diane Vaughn - who has been with Carlisle Events since the early days.

“The people are one of the best parts of what I do. When we talk about our Carlisle family, we mean just that. I’ve gotten to meet and interact with so many wonderful people over the years and have been privileged enough to see the sons, daughters and grandchildren of some vendors join them at Carlisle. It’s great to share the passion with the next generations. I also work with a super group of people who make coming to work a pleasure. From the beginning, Bill and Chip created a family atmosphere in which to work that still continues today under their sons’ leadership.”

Shaelyn and I got a good dose of that type of hospitality .... and are looking forward to more of it in July.