Saturday May 21, 2005 was a pleasant enough day, with a light breeze and scattered cloud cover; warm but not hot.  The perfect day, I thought, to check out Golden Age's new digs at the Truro Exhibition Grounds.  Following the directions from the web site, I had no trouble finding my way; once I entered Truro itself, big golden yellow direction signs were placed on poles all along my route.  I'd made a note in advance which entrance I was to use as a simple site seeing, but there was no real chance for confusion with the signs everywhere and staff at all entrances.  I was directed to a large grassy lot at the back of the Grounds; there was a slight wait in line with other visitors, say about 2 and a 1/2 songs on the radio - no big deal!  Everyone was polite and patient, and the members directing car parking were friendly and efficient.  In mere minutes I was parked close to the buildings and strolling through the entry gates.

I had arranged to meet a Golden Age Executive member, Secretary Rachel Nieforth, in the Registration Area for a tour.  Registration was easy to find on the ground floor of the Grandstand building and was efficiently laid out.  It was easy to find out where to go to register your car or buy this year's t-shirt.  Prizes were on display, there were snack machines, an indoor canteen, washrooms, plenty of chairs, even a TV lounge.  Upstairs the bar/restaurant provided a sweeping view of the main track area and show cars, and the Public Address facilities kept everyone up to date on events and important announcements.

Rachel and I took a leisurely stroll around the central track area, chatting with people at random while I took snaps of whichever vehicles caught my eye.  "It's going well," Rachel noted, "the crowd is good and most people seem to be having a good time."  Quite a few of the flea market vendors had elected to set up their trailers, tables or booths at the far end of the central ring, and I was definitely surprised at the range of vendors.  Plenty of items for auto fans, but lots of other stuff too; we even spoke to a couple selling customized coach cushions!  There were from Bible Hill and this was their first year attending our Show and Shine; they seemed happy and impressed with the turnout.  I found no shortage of beautiful cars to take photos of; we tried to talk briefly with each of the owners if they were nearby and they all seemed pretty pleased with how the show was going.  See the Photo Gallery below for some more stars of the show...

Having worked up a little appetite, we decided to take a break for a snack. There were plenty of vendors to choose from - I noticed several snack trucks scattered in convenient spots throughout the grounds as well as canteen buildings in the central area, with washrooms and covered eating shelters nearby.  We appropriated an unwatched flatbed trailer for our own picnic area; it gave us a wide view of the central grounds while we planned where to go next.  Nobody caught us...

We checked out the bustling Car Corral where business seemed to be booming (see photo montage below).  Then we decided to investigate some nifty barn-like buildings near the Car Corral; it turned out to be a permanent historic exhibit of Nova Scotian farm implements and filled several buildings.  "This is neat", I said, "a little bonus for the families attending the show."  We took a quick tour of the displays inside, where I snapped a shot of Rachel and friend (above) with a certain sense of irony.  Then we had a look at the outside exhibits which included vintage tractors as well as some incomprehensible and esoteric looking devices that whirred and clanked and chuffed away throughout the afternoon.  Oddly, this area seemed really attractive to the males visiting the show!

And speaking of families, I was struck by the number of families that were taking in the show.  All ages were well represented, especially the seniors, but I did notice families and kids everywhere.  Teenagers oooing and ahhing at the "chickmobiles" and other shiny toys, toddlers hand-in-hand with parents, kids in strollers, kids in backpacks.  The lad above was visiting the show with his grandfather, and seemed impressed by the size of wheels on this vintage tractor - nearly as big as him! 

And dogs!  Everywhere dogs, dogs and more dogs!  "Is this a car show or a dog show?" I thought, as more and more dogs kept popping up.  All on leashes and well behaved, but obviously enjoying their day out at the Car Show just as much as their humans.  I noticed a really amazing variety, from a massive black bouviere that ambled along exactly like a small, shambling black bear, to a minute Chihuahua tucked into in a lady's shoulder bag as she waited at a canteen.  One exhibitor with a sense of humour even provided his own wooden "junk yard dawg" (complete with food dish), to guard his vehicle while he was away!

Next we stopped by the multi-purpose Agri-Dome to see what was available in the main Flea Market area.  Once again I was struck by the variety of vendors; plenty of wares for car buffs, but everything else under the sun too.  Rachel and I sampled chicken and other treats in soy sauce and then munched on fresh fudge to keep up our energy level, while we compared prices on samurai swords in no less than four different booths!  I was frankly dazzled by the cars and trucks being raffled off by Brookfield 19th Annual Lotto-Truck Festival.  These gleaming machines dominated the dome space near the main doors.

(Float your mouse over the composite picture at right and click where you see the mouse pointer change from an arrow to a hand...)

The Agri-Dome was well organized, with clearly marked signs for a First Aid Station and washrooms, and the Golden Age Hospitality Room upstairs.  We paused for a short rest in the fully supplied Hospitality Room and watched the crowd circulating around the vendors from large windows overlooking the entire dome.

We could see that the well equipped building provided an airy feeling with lots of light, while there was obviously plenty of room for future expansion.  Another bonus in the Agri-Dome was a display of really beautiful antique cars sponsored by Starr Cars.  These were definitely "star cars", true vintage vehicles, all wonderfully maintained and not a speck of dust anywhere.  Looking at the quality of the workmanship used in these relics of a bygone era, I began to understand some of the fascination with antique automobiles that had brought out so many visitors this day.  I groveled around on the floor for a while trying to get some good shots, but the cars were almost too highly polished for my digital camera; all those gleaming highlights and metal!

(To see some close ups of these stars, float your mouse over the picture and click where the pointer arrow changes to a hand...)

Back outside the Agri-Dome, we stopped at a display by the Department of National Defence.  Some of Canada's best were present in uniform and had set up tents and vehicle exhibits for visitors to drool over.  This was another spot that seemed mighty popular with the males in the crowd!  I was mulling over asking one of the soldiers a few questions about the insanely complicated little toy shown below, but he had a sort of "recruiting" look in his eye so we moved on.  

Before leaving the show, I spoke briefly to current club President Grant Milley.  He was driving around the site, getting ready to shut-down for the evening and was very pleased with how the show was running the first day.  "We definitely have had a good crowd", he stated, "and, considering that Sunday is traditionally our better day, well..." and he left it there.  I knew of course there was a sold-out dance that evening and plenty to come on Sunday, but I asked him about the club's long-range plans for the site.  (I always consider it a good sign at an annual event if the group is already planning bigger and better things for next year, and Grant proved my theory.)  "We can get that building", he said, "and that one too," pointing as we drove along, full of enthusiasm.  His main concern was of course to provide even better venues for both exhibitors and visitors, but speaking as one of those visitors, I was quick to reassure him that the new site alone was a quantum leap forward.  The Debert Airfield was a wonderful home for the Show for many years, but the Truro Exhibition Grounds quite simply provides some really terrific facilities in a convenient location that will allow the Show significant growth for years to come...