CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The president of a popular, long-running Charleston car show said that “all good things come to an end” after the recent decision was made to cancel it.
Once deemed as the biggest car show in the state, The Charleston Boulevard Rod Run and Doo Wop is being permanently scrapped after nearly 20 years.
Jack Jarvis said that due to the negative economic impact that the Covid-19 pandemic left behind caused the executive board for the event to undergo a significant loss of money to fund the show, as well as a loss of volunteers and sponsors. The board added that new construction proposed for bicycle and walking paths downtown also would hinder it from continuing.
Jarvis said that while it’s disappointing, the car show had a good run.
“We’re very sad that this happened, but we feel we had a good run and we feel that we did the best we could to put on the car show over the years,” said Jarvis in an interview with MetroNews on Monday.
Charleston mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin also made a remark on the car show coming to an end, saying that despite problems with funding the event, it did a lot to help the local economy overall.
“The Charleston Boulevard Rod Run and Doo Wop has been a key event in our Capital City for more than a decade, bringing in visitors from across the Mountain State and from across our country. Time and again, we’ve received positive feedback from our local businesses regarding the event’s ability to pack hotels, restaurants, and shops,” Goodwin said.
The official host of the Rod Run and Doo Wop, the West Virginia Moto Car Festival Inc., would include live music, a car cruise that stretched for miles, a walking poker tour, and world-class fireworks, and numerous other activities during the 4-day event.
Jarvis said that the event had drawn in thousands of car enthusiasts from across 13 different states and Canada each year since its inception in 2006, adding that the people are something he would miss most of all.
“I’m very sad, because, we won’t see some of these people that we would see every year from around the country,” he said.
Goodwin said that the news is very disappointing, especially since the city worked hard to financially accommodate the event.
“The City of Charleston has supported this fun, family friendly event for many years and has continued to work closely with the event organizers. We were disappointed to hear the Rod Run and Doo Wop was cancelled especially after we included financial support in the City’s budget to help them,” Goodwin said.
However, Jarvis added that despite all of the success the car show brought with it, he accepted that the event had to come to an end.