When it comes to automotive weekends, clustering makes a lot of sense. Draw in enthusiast owners who love their cars or car culture for a main automotive event, then augment that with additional activities in order to make the trip that much more fun-filled. The strategy works, from Monterey to Wörthersee. It’s an economies of scale thing, where more activities and attractions break down barriers or excuses not to go.
Jamie Orr gets this. As the creator of L’OE Show, he knew that convincing car enthusiasts to come to his home town of Pottstown, PA would be a challenge… and even when they came it would only be half the battle. Following the “rising tide raises all ships” adage, Jamie leaned into bolstering these activities. And while roping in established events such as him home town’s Pottstown Nights general gathering hosted by the nearby Red Bull Motoring Garage, he went even further by calling on his friends to host even more.
That’s where meet-ups come into play. No, these aren’t takeovers where hordes of cars show up unannounced and unwelcome. Such gatherings, perhaps fun for attendees, are taxing on local law enforcement, a nuisance for property owners and outrageous in the eyes of locals not so enamored by the party that’s turned up on their doorstep. Monterey Car Week, while hosting the biggest week of automotive gatherings anywhere, is now challenged by takeovers. It’s these spontaneous “car shows” as described by frustrated locals failing to see the fundamental difference between swarms and sanctioned events that cause things to go awry. The practice did in other once iconic gatherings like H20i in Ocean City, Maryland. That once gargantuan Volkswagen and Audi gathering became the poster event for car hobby themed chaos, infamous amongst town planners who don’t wish to repeat the same mistakes.
Like so many of us in the community, Jamie Orr can trace his roots back to H20i, Wörthersee and more. He saw what worked and what didn’t. Now an adult and an engrained member of his community, he has no interest in churning and burning his relationship with the town he calls home. Instead, a proactive planning of meet-ups and support events is all part of the strategy… a strategy that seems to inspire continued growth that is welcomed by locals.
Ahead of L’OE Show weekend, I threw together a list to share on the @ooooIYKYK Instagram account (please follow if you are a fan of this content and you don’t already). The activities on offer were so numerous that you’d have been hard-pressed to attend them all.
L’OE SHOW WEEKEND HIT LIST
08.28 Thu
4P-9P Opening Meet, Sly Fox Brewing Co.
08.29 Fri
10:30A-12P Brunch Meet, Coventry Parlor
4P-9:30P Store & Museum with Rotiform & Miltek
6:30P Pre-2K GTG at Hollywood Garage
08.30 Sat
8A-10A Wagoon Summit with @thewagoons, Memorial Park
10A Cars & Coffee, Norco Fire Hall
12P Eastwood Open House, Eastwood
1P-4P Audi Gathering with @AudiC7Owners, Sly Fox Brewing
1P MQB Meet, Riverfront Park
3P Pottstown Nights Car Show, High St
5P-7P H&R Live, Laugh, Lupo Party, The Alley, High St
5P-9P Golden Hour Show, Big Phil’s Bar & Grill
09.01 Sun
10A-5P L’OE Show, High St
While in town for L’OE Show I had time for just a few of the events. Obviously, I chose to focus on Audi. Here, you’ll find a focus on the Audi Gathering organized by @AudiC7Owners at Sly Fox Brewing, and the Wagoon Summit by @thewagoons. You’ll also find full galleries of each below. Special thanks to the Wagoons in particular for sharing photos of their event that I wasn’t able to personally attend and photograph.
Unsurprisingly, the Audi meet was what I prioritized and it didn’t disappoint. What it did do is drive home the point L’OE Show as an event was making all week. Even after years of enthusiast communities spreading out over social media platforms, clubs splintering and official brand presence from Audi and Volkswagen dried up, this community continues to grow and flourish.
The Audi presence at L’OE was up something like 40% according to Jamie Orr, and that wasn’t just visible on show day. The Audi gathering one day before was enormous. It wasn’t just people who’d come in for the main L’OE event on Sunday, but others with show day conflicts and still wanted to take part. While impossible to accurately count due to its casual arrival and departure windows combined with expansive layout in and around Pottstown’s Sly Fox Brewery, it appeared that there were easily more than 200 cars present. Comparatively, that’s larger than most of Audi Club North America’s most successful organized events or the old days when even Audi themselves hosted corrals at ALMS or IMSA races… all here for a casual meetup at a brewery and spread out over the parking lot and nearby yards and streets.
The size I think surprised us all, including event organizers. This was a casual gathering on a lead-up day after all, just people hanging out and having dinner and a beer. It was even up against other events on the schedule, including an MQB meet that could have drawn away A3/S3/RS 3 and TT/TTS/TT RS owners, while others eager to get placed for Pottstown Nights on the town’s main street also would have been pulled in that direction. Remarkable.
Like L’OE Show, the Audi gathering and other meet-ups of the weekend have established themselves as more and more the place to be on Labor Day Weekend if you’re on the east coast and happen to be an aficionado of these car brands. In as much, the L’OE Show weekend is only further cementing itself as having all the hallmarks of the peak years at Wörthersee.
Here’s to years more to come for L’OE Show and the meetups in its orbit. Special thanks to organization or individuals like @AudiC7Owners and @TheWagoons who stepped up to help organize it so that the rest of us could just roll in and enjoy. No doubt they were exhausted from all their efforts.
GALLERY L’OE SHOW AUDI GATHERING BY AUDIC7OWNERS
GALLERY L’OE SHOW WAGOON SUMMIT GATHERING BY THEWAGOONS
