Organizers with the 30th annual Wallaceburg Antique Motor and Boat Outing (WAMBO) are thrilled with the outcome of this past weekend’s event.
“Very pleased, everything went well,” Bill Wolsing, chair of WAMBO 30, told the Sydenham Current.
“The weather cooperated up until about Saturday night at 11 p.m. I’d estimate around 20,000 people. I saw lots of smiling faces, lots of happy kids, the exhibitors seemed happy. A lot more cars, more boats.”
Paul Dineno, a director and the treasurer for WAMBO said 25 boats participated in the boat competition for WAMBO and a total of about 60 boats in total in the Sydenham River.
Dineno said 226 cars participated in the Friday night Terry Glover Memorial Cruise and 186 cars were on the street for the car show.
Wolsing said the community support was once again phenomenal.
“Starting with the businesses, their are businesses in town when you go down the street during WAMBO you can see the restaurants are full, the shops are full… and there are businesses that support WAMBO, whether in-kind or with cash donations, because ti really does help to promote and keep this show going,” Wolsing said.
“The community itself… I had hundreds of people that came up to me, shook my hand and thanked me and our volunteers for doing this and putting on a good show. It’s very humbling sometimes.”
WAMBO had multiple new activities to celebrate their 30 year anniversary.
Dineno said one of the highlights of this was the new Youth Ambassador Program.
“The program was designed for two reasons. One was to enlist the support of the youth because we need youth involved,” Dineno said.
“And two, as part of that the emphasis of volunteering in your community. What is does for your community and what it does for the individual themselves.
Dineno added: “Also, it raised the profile of WAMBO because we’re thought of as a 36-hour, 48-hour event and nothing else, but there is a whole lot of other things that this group does. This is one that is sort of out there in your face, this is part of what we do in this community, we’re helping these kids continue their post-secondary education. Hopefully next year there us even more applicants. We had a good turn out and we ended up with two excellent choices.. and they’re going to be back next year.”
Wallaceburg District Secondary School Grade 12 graduates Miria Pelletier and Brock Yazbeck were the inaugural recipients. Pelletier and Yazbeck each received $1,500 to go towards their post-secondary educational costs.
WAMBO 30 featured their usual lineup of cars, boats, fire trucks, musical entertainment, vendors, toys, refreshment tent, southside kids activities, cardboard boat parade, art in the park and soap box derby.
There was also a new garden tractor pull, community boat parade and an open paddle down the Sydenham River.
Wolsing said WAMBO 30 could not happen without their volunteers.
“I’m speechless to be honest with you,” he said.
“The dedication and the hard , hard work and the amount of hours… some of these volunteers are there working for hours, upon hours. After a WAMBO event, you go home to bed to relax, and there are guys up the entire night until the sun comes up getting ready for the next day. It goes like that for three days. My hats off to all of them.”
WAMBO 31 will take place on August 9, 10 and 11, 2019.
Here are some photos from the 30th annual event:
– Photo credit: Aaron Hall
