Third annual Trenton Show & Shine this weekend

The town of Trenton is hosting its third annual show and shine car show this Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the park in town.

Terri Bain, one of the event’s organizers, said the event took off on its own when it began in 2019.

“There used to be one years ago,” Bain said. “People kept individually asking us how we could start one, and three years ago we picked a date and said, ‘This is what we’re going to do, the first Saturday in August every year, we’re going to have a car show.’”

Word of the show spread quickly. Bain said the first year brought in 110 cars. Last year it drew closer to 150.

Bain expects the turnout to be lower this year but still enough to pack the streets of the small town between Wayland and Mt. Pleasant.

“We’re hoping for at least 100,” she said. “Last year, there were no events, there was just no competition for our day. People were eager to get out. This year, there’s all kinds of activities going on.”

The eight-hour event will feature a handful of food vendors, music by DJ Ken Michaels, and its first-ever award ceremony at 3 p.m.

“We lost several of our original angels this year, and a bunch of car guys, so we’re going to have what we’re calling the fallen angel awards,” she said. “The family of each person that passed away will go and pick a car and that car will win the award. We’ll also do the kids’ choice award.”

The event is managed by the Trenton Angels Car Club, of which Bain is president. The group is a local nonprofit that started as a collection of vehicle enthusiasts and grew into a community-serving organization that hosts movie nights, garage sales and an annual Easter egg hunt.

“We do improvements to the park, so we donate a portion of whatever we make after we cover our expenses,” she said. “We did the playground six or seven years ago, now they’re wanting to redo the shelter house, it’s getting pretty raggedy, we’ve got to fix some cement, improvements like that. It’s not that we’re fundraising, we just cover our expenses and have a little extra to do improvements.”

Bain said the Trenton Angels Car Club was funded primarily by donations and would not charge a fee to participate in the car show.