Even when it rains, attendance at the annual Langley Good Times Cruise-In can be counted in the tens of thousands.

And when the weather is right - as it usually is for Langley City's busiest weekend of the year - WOW!

The Cruise-In got off the mark with solid horsepower in 1997, and quickly gained traction, drawing crowds of upwards of 100,000 spectators (and fleets of thousands of cars) by the time the 2000s had barely got started.

The greatest thing about the Cruise-In - especially since not everybody is necessarily car-crazy - is that it's not only about the cars. As awe-inspiring as the weird, wonderful, beautiful, and amazing many of the vehicles in the show will certainly be, the Langley Good Times Cruise-In literally is fun for the whole family - that will not be just a cliche this weekend.

But perhaps even more awe-inspiring is the volunteer effort that goes into producing the annual show. The whole thing is fueled by volunteers. Every ounce of energy output is driven by the sweat of a dedicated group of volunteers who keep coming back and working their butts off to put on a car show that has grown into one of the biggest and most popular in North America.

But it gets even more awe-inspiring than that. Every penny raised at the Cruise-In, whether from car entry fees (not admission fees, spectators get in free) or from the many stands and concessions catering to wide-eyed onlookers' needs, goes to keep local charities firing on all cylinders.

And with hundreds of thousands of dollars raised over the years,

Volunteerism is the engine that drives the Cruise-In. And it's the key to the Cruise-In's amazing success.

- B.G.