Auto Show revs into Bradley Centre this weekend

By Bruce Corcoran bruce@chathamvoice.com

The Chatham Auto show returns to the Bradley Centre after a three-year absence due to the pandemic.

Greg Hetherington, the event’s organizer and general manager of Five Amigos Broadcasting, can’t wait to open the doors on March 3.

“It’s certainly an opportunity to showcase what our local car dealers do and what they’re all about,” he said. “This is an opportunity to meet the owners, the people that work at these car dealerships. These are the same people who have kids on your kid’s hockey team.”

It’s also a chance for the public to do some onestop auto shopping. In the past, the show has seen between 3,000 and 4,000 people stop by on a given weekend, to proverbially kick the tires on new vehicles and discuss the pros of each automobile of interest.

“People want to get out and they want to see cars and they want the opportunity to have them all in one room,” Hetherington said. “This encourages people to shop at home too. We’ve been preaching it for 10 years now. It seems to be making an impact.”

If a dealer has the make and model of a vehicle a customer desires, there’s no point going out of town to make a purchase. “These people give back to the community,” Hetherington stressed of the dealers.

Nine of the 10 Chatham dealerships will have vehicles on display this year. Hetherington said the 10th respectfully declined due to a lack of inventory.

“One of the dealers is having a very difficult time getting inventory.”

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