Ponoka streets became a show circuit for luxury cars when Corvette owners from across the province gathered in town for the annual Ponoka Corvette Meet and Greet, Saturday, May 23 at the Prairie Boys Truck and Car Wash Ltd.
The third annual meet and greet also included a drive down main street and a group cruise to Gull Lake.
Bruce Wagner, meet and greet organizer as well as Corvette enthusiast and owner, says what brings so many drivers to Ponoka for the meet and greet is the chance to get together with like-minded people and the passion for the cars.
“On a day like today, I love to put the roof down, taking my grandson,” said Wagner, referring to his yellow 2002 C5 convertible Corvette; meaning fifth generation.
“(It’s) a chance to drive somewhere,” said co-organizer and owner of three Corvettes Don Peterson.
He owns a C3, C4 and C5 however, only the 1991 ZR-1 C4 was at the meet and greet.
“It’s quite a rare car,” said Peterson. He says only 6,000 were ever built.
The car also holds the speed record of 178 mph for 24 consecutive hours, “which has never been beat,” said Peterson.
Wagner says the meet and greet had a C7 in attendance. “It’s the latest, greatest, fully computerized.”
The earliest generation at the event was a C3. Peterson and Wagner say a person would be hard pressed to find a second or first generation Corvette in Alberta.
“There’s some old school boys out there who love old school cars, but there’s a variety of people. It’s about the power and the horsepower and the noise,” said Wagner.
The meet and greet started three years ago after a discussion on the idea took off on Canadian Corvette Forum website.
Peterson says the meet and greet is about raising public awareness in the community, as many of those who turned up were not from Ponoka. “Now we’ve got guys right across Canada talking about Ponoka on our forum.”