The beautiful waterfront lawn of the Kent Island Yacht Club will showcase a unique grouping of antique, classic, hot rod, and sportscars surrounded by antique and classic speed boats, yachts, and more for the 6th Annual Chesapeake Bay Motoring Festival on Saturday and Sunday, June 8 & 9, 2024.

 

On Sunday during the Car Show, food and libations from the Kent Island Yacht Club will be available for purchase, along with vendor tents, live music, and a unique awards ceremony wrapping up the day’s festivities.

 

This ever-growing gathering is an offshoot of and traditionally presented by the St. Michaels Concours d’Elegance and sponsored by Bentley, the Antique & Classic Boat Society, and the Classic Yacht Club of America. Children under 12 get in free with an adult ticket, with early-bird discounts and limited tickets for purchase online.

 

“This is the forth year we’re having this event in June,” said Chesapeake Bay Motoring Festival and St. Michaels Concours d’Elegance Chair Luke L. Phipps. “The beautiful and convenient location of the yacht club combined with our earlier date in the season makes this a great celebration of motoring excellence on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.”

 

Kent Narrows draws people from throughout the Mid-Atlantic with restaurants, marinas, hotels, retail, and more. The waterway is five miles from the Chesapeake Bay and connects the Chester River with the Eastern Bay while separating Kent Island from the rest of the Delmarva Peninsula.  

 

Phipps says the festival’s volunteers are welcoming individual owners and local car and boat club members to provide an eclectic display of motorcars, classic yachts, and antique boats as registered participants for the show, with registration now being accepted online. He says automobile and boat registrants appreciate the champagne prizes given for the festival’s cheeky awards, with winners deemed in categories like “best car to take your momma to church,” or “car most inclined to stop for gas,” for example.

 

“Most car shows give trophies and such for awards,” said Phipps. “Traditionally we do awards a little differently, and our festival-goers really appreciate our creative award categories, while our registrant winners greatly enjoy the custom blue ribbons and high-quality magnum champagne bottle prizes.”

 

Registered entrants and ticket holders are invited to a preview of Sunday’s show on Saturday, June 8th with an 8:30 a.m. Cars and Coffee event and a police-escorted motoring tour and gourmet lunch for pre-registered entrants lining up at 9:00 a.m. and departing the Yacht Club at 9:30 a.m.

 

The festival’s main event opens at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, with antique yachts and classic boats waterside and on the lawn. On display will also be a unique gathering of previous award-winning motorcars to include Grand Classic, Pre- and Post-War, Touring, and Sports Cars and featuring notable European and American; classic, muscle, and special interest cars. The award ceremony takes place at 2:00 p.m. with the festival concluding at 3:30 p.m.

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Tickets and registration for motorcars and classic boats are available online along with sponsorship opportunities at www.chesapeakebaymotoringfestival.org.

 

Kent Island Yacht Club is the new home of the St. Michaels Concours d’Elegance on Chesapeake Bay, set for Friday through Sunday, September 22 – 24, 2023 for entrants, and Sunday, September 24 for the public show. More information, including entrant registration and early-bird discounted tickets, is at www.smcde.org. For more information on this event contact Tracy Johns, Publicist, St. Michaels Concours d'Elegance at 410-924-7265 | tracyfjohns@gmail.com.

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For sponsorship info:

Mary Kramer  essd09@gmail.com| 410-725-6350