EDMONDS — Hot Autumn Nites, the largest car show in the city, might have revved its final engine.
For years, the popular car show has drawn hundreds of cars and thousands of tourists to downtown on the first Saturday in September, but it has been cancelled for next year.
The Greater Edmonds Chamber of Commerce organizes the event each year, but the tight economy forced the chamber to cut one of its three full-time employees earlier this year.
“(Hot Autumn Nites) was not cut because it doesn’t make money for us, and not because it is not well loved by all those who go, but because the workload is now falling on 33 percent fewer employees,” said Greater Edmonds Chamber of Commerce President Jim Hills.
Killing a popular event that brings people to town is the wrong move for the chamber to take in a tight economy, some critics said.
To shutter a program that brings so many people to town is a mistake, said Fred Gouge, a commissioner with the Port of Edmonds and a former Hot Autumn Nites volunteer.
“For one day, it’s about the best thing that anybody can do that doesn’t cost any money, and brings thousands of people to town,” Gouge said.
The event costs about $11,000 a year to organize, but each year the chamber makes that money back through entry fees and other ways, said chamber board member Chris Keuss, who is also the director of the Port of Edmonds.
The decision to close the car show was made as part of the chamber’s 2009 budget, which was finalized Dec. 9.
Chamber officials are hoping another organization might step up and organize the event.
The chamber could also reconsider its own role in the car show as soon as its January board meeting, Hills said.
“I suspect we will start a new discussion there on the future of the car show,” he said.
In addition to Hot Autumn Nites, the chamber also organizes the Taste of Edmonds, the Fourth of July parade, a Christmas Tree lighting and a number of other events.
Reporter Chris Fyall: 425-673-6525 or cfyall@heraldnet.com.
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