Dear Editor,

The best attended charity fund raiser in western Canada, the Langley Good Times Cruise-In, is back! It sports a recently elected board of directors with some new faces and many returning members.

We would like to introduce the members of the board to the public, and we would like to encourage you to recognize them for their efforts. Feel free to offer the Cruise-In your constructive input and your moral and financial support.

Firstly, we have Riccardo Sestito who has ended a seven-year run as president of the show and will spend this year as past president. He has been involved in the show since the early days of the Cruise-In and is a longtime member of the board.

Riccardo works in the insurance industry locally and is raising a family in Langley. His expertise in insurance has been invaluable for the Cruise-In as risk manager, and has somehow given him incredible expertise in arranging for portable toilets. We are not sure how these relate, but welcome back Riccardo.

As president, meet Eric Taylor. Eric has been involved with the Cruise-In for about seven years and was vice-president last year after serving the prior year on the board of directors.

Eric works in the steel industry and has a family here in Langley. He is new at the job of president and will be looking for the support of the experienced members of the board.

The new vice-president is Martin Brown. Martin operates a local consulting and project management company that specializes in providing solutions and experience in people and project management. He has been involved with Cruise-In for three years, mostly looking after the Marketplace, which is a challenging position.

We are pleased to have a sharp mind like this on board, and we are sure that his management skills will be more than welcomed by the board.

Marty is a resident of North Langley and certainly isn't short of good ideas.

Lori Watts, one of the originators of the Cruise-In, continues with the board. Lori has been involved since the first show, and we wouldn't know what to do without her. Another local resident, Lori is a key person at the Chamber of Commerce in Langley.

Lori arranges so many things behind the scenes that we really don't even know what some of those things are. With her trusty Chuck in tow, Lori can be found sipping martinis and organizing unsuspecting passersby into doing car show tasks.

Audrey Stebanuk is another returning member who has such extensive experience in car shows that she could probably do most of this herself. Her husband Gord also is deeply involved in Cruise-In, and the two of them have been key to show day registration and getting all the registered cars staged and sent in waves to be parked in town.

The Stebanuks are in the mobile welding and repairs business in Langley and have been into car shows for many years. We are very pleased that Audrey (and Gord, too) has been able to come back year after year.

Dick Hooper is our director in charge of getting things done. His years of experience as a city electrician and his get-it-done attitude inspire people around him to do just that: get things done!

Dick has been retired for some years (we decline to say exactly how many so we don't make the cars on display seem like late models) and was honoured as Langley's Citizen of the Year a few years back. He is deeply involved in the Rotary Club, and he seems to run on never-ending energy to help people. We should all aspire to be as good a citizen as is Mr. Hooper.

Wayne Patterson is new on the board, but not to the Cruise-In. For the past couple of years, he has been responsible for setting up and manning barricades around town to allow us to shut down the city for the show.

His experience in the rentals industry has him ultimately knowledgeable and well connected to put all the right things at hand for the Cruise-In committee to put the show in motion. Welcome to the Board, Wayne!

As a special treat this year, we have Corinna Ulvild and her trophy husband Rich both on our board.

Corinna is the smiling face that you have all seen at the souvenir tent at Cruise-In for years and years. Her experience as an elementary school teacher will be beneficial in keeping board meetings in hand.

Rich has also been a longtime supporter and volunteer at the Cruise-in, and was the president before Riccardo. He is in the mortgage industry and is very well versed in promotion and sales.

Together, Corinna and Rich have raised their family in North Langley and continue to reside there. We welcome Corinna to the board, and her presence will more than make up for the burden of having Rich, too. Welcome and welcome back to the Ulvilds!

Eric Taylor, president, Langley Cruise-In