Niagara Corvette Club 50th Anniversary Event – 1973-2023
In 1972, a group of Corvette owners in the Niagara area spent time together as a group to socialize and to enjoy their Corvettes. Often, they met at Bob Richard’s garage, before the group got organized.
In 1973, they had a big meeting, and discussed starting a club. They elected an Executive and decided on the club’s name, the Niagara Corvette Club. All were in favour, and since he suggested it, Jerry Bates became the first President of the Niagara Corvette Club when it came into being in 1973.
Other original members were Rick Zahorchak, Joe Bartok, Bob Johnstone, Ken Baldwin, Bob Disher, Doug Bunting, Bob Richards, Gary DiMarco, Harold Barclay, Peter Barclay, Lenny Woodrow and more.
In 1973, the Niagara Corvette Club held its first car show in the parking lot at the Canadian Tire store on Niagara St. in Welland. There were seven cars. By comparison, in 2008, at the 35th Anniversary car show held at Reif Winery, there were 340 cars from Ontario, New York, Michigan, and Ohio, that participated in the event.
The Niagara Corvette Club has been a longtime supporter of the Niagara Peninsula Children’s Centre. To date, the Club has donated over $440,000 to the Children’s Center, through proceeds from our annual car show, and other fundraising activities.
2023 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Niagara Corvette Club. The members continue to enjoy social activities together and the membership continues to grow. Initial membership was a handful of people, while today the Club has approximately 105 members and 80 associate members.
An anniversary celebration was held on Sunday August 27, 2023, at Reif Estate Winery in Niagara on the Lake. Klaus Reif is a long-time member of our club and owner of Reif Winery.
The event was for all active members of NCC and executive members from the past. Many past presidents and executive members attended our event. It was wonderful to see old friends and reminisce of glory days of past. Cindy Wilcox also attended as our CCCC-ER President. We all know that the success of our club was built on the hard work and success of our past executives.
After convoying their way to the winery along the scenic Niagara Parkway, attendees enjoyed a beautiful outdoor afternoon of great music, good food and samplings of Reif wine. As a thanks for attending and being part of NCC, our guests received a commemorative wine glass. Nothing better than a NCC wine glass to drink our private label Reif wine from! The afternoon ended with a short recognition of our past executive with some of them adding their memories.
