The 22nd Annual Canadian Bug Out

We had been looking forward to this show for weeks. It was a chance to get away from the city for an afternoon and relax in the countryside of Heidelberg, Ontario.

We cruised down the highway towards Kitchener, home of the KW & Area Bug Club. For the past 21 years Joe Steffler and his club have put on a fantastic show called the Canadian Bug out, and this year was to be the 22nd edition. If you do your math that means Canada's longest running VW show started in 1981, or only two years after the Beetle had stopped selling in North America!

All proceeds from the general admission at this event will go to help the Kitchener-Waterloo Optimist Club, the owners of the beautiful park where the event was held. The vehicles are parked in sections that represent the classes that they are competing in, 25 of them in all. Known for their unique awards, the club selected trophies with a gold Beetle on top for all the winners this year. One very popular award from a previous year was made out of stainless steel that was cut and etched using high-pressure water (I've got two of them). This show uses participant judging, which means that all show car entrants are eligible to vote for their favorite car in each class. No judges here, just people voting for what they like best.

The Bug Out isn't all about awards and trophies. It's more about getting friends together to catch up on things and talk about what they've done to their VW over the winter. Vendors were plentiful and you could pick up just about anything you needed for your ride. The KW & Area Bug Club has a thing for door prizes. Every thirty minutes or so the DJ turns down the music and winning numbers are drawn from the entry stubs. The draws go on and on until almost everyone has won something. We packed a picnic lunch--which was a good thing because the delicious BBQ food that was offered actually sold out. We enjoyed our goodies while checking out the vintage metal that was everywhere.

There was a huge turnout of Buses and Campers this year. Looking over the vehicles all you could see were pop tops and canopies. The Bus is getting more popular each year and accounted for almost half of all the VWs at the show. A lot of thanks for this goes to Jamie Rivers and the Bug Pack Club for organizing the Buses and Campers in Southern Ontario. There were a half dozen or so dune buggies and a couple of sweet Things parked on the hill overlooking the other show cars. I hate to use the words "show car" because just having an aircooled Volkswagen gets you in to almost any of these events. Daily drivers and project cars are always welcome and shouldn't be sitting in the parking lot. Your VW doesn't have to be in mint condition to attend because everyone at these events is a VW fanatic and loves to see them in any shape or stage of restoration.

My pick of the show was Ryan Nichol's 1970 Beetle. It featured a one-piece fiberglass front end that came from a drag racing Bug. The car was lowered and done up in a beautiful metallic mint green with three chromed gauges on the cowl, billet running boards and a roll cage. The engine was bored to 1700cc with the most chrome I've seen in a long time.

Once again the weather was perfect and the length of the show was just right. By 3pm, the winners were being announced and everyone was packing up for another year. Looking through all the event flyers I found on the driver's seat of my Super Beetle I was busy planning which show to attend next weekend. But on my calendar I've got the next years Canadian Bug Out penciled in already.