Bronte Stag Weekend 2017

The annual gathering of Triumph Stags at Bronte, Ontario took place September 15-17, 2017.

It's getting close to putting he Stag away for winter as I write this, not a good feeling but a necessity before the snow, ice and salt arrive which could be as early as November here in Southern Ontario. As of now, I’m getting the last few drives in the Stag, taking advantage of some beautiful Fall days. So, a good time to reflect on our 2017 British Car Day and Stag Party Weekend at Bronte Creek Park which was spectacular (again), with sunny skies and mid 70 º F temperatures on three days of Stag activity and perfect for top down motoring.

Friday saw an excellent turnout of 12 Stags. An almost full day of driving saw us visit Campbellville for a coffee stop followed by lunch at the Wundeba Restaurant. After lunch we enjoyed a guided tour of historic Ireland House in Burlington, settled by the Ireland family in 1837, one of the oldest settlements in Burlington. As we have often done on previous years, we had dinner together at Jake’s Grill & Oyster House in Burlington, always a treat.

Saturday was another great day with a country tour of 13 Stags along the Niagara Escarpment to the village of Jordan where we browsed the antique shops and had a leisurely lunch. On the return trip back to Burlington we stopped off at Grimsby Beach to see the Painted Ladies, a group of gingerbread houses in a wonderful array of bright colors. Originally settled as a Methodist camp in the mid 1800s, first with tents and then later with the gingerbread cottages we see today, Grimsby Beach was once a major tourist attraction in the early 1900's with two steamships bringing passengers to enjoy the carousel, other rides and musical entertainment.

Dinner was a jovial affair at Tucker's Marketplace, lots of great food, flowing drinks and great company.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny, a very promising start for the big day. The Stag contingent departed from the Admiral’s Inn in Burlington at 8.30 am to make a spectacular entrance, with flags flying, into the Bronte Park showground. The great display of 24 Stags quite impressed the Toronto Triumph Club who sponsored the show.

Winners of the People’s Choice Awards went to Chris Tank (Waterloo) with first place for his beautiful 1973 red Stag; John Kolton (Illinois) in second place with his 1973 red car; third place to Robin & Ria Searle with another 1973 red car, well done to you all. Looks like I have to paint mine red to get a place!

A special showing this year was Joe and Kathy Pawlak from Illinois, who had recently restored Stag LD2 in Saffron yellow, which was the first Stag shipped to North America and one of 2 Stags (the other being LD1 ) built from production tooling for build evaluation. Normally these cars would be destroyed as there are usually many differences to the final production cars but luckily these two survived for us to see. Joe has made a superb job of restoring the car to its original condition down to the last detail. This is the yellow Stag you see in the early brochures. It was great to see our other American members and friends, Bruce & Susan Krobusek from Ohio, Ted & Eden Allison from Ohio, Chris & Griz Holbrook from Michigan.

The Bronte Park British Car Day is organized by the Toronto Triumph Club, this year being the 34th anniversary of the show. From humble beginnings in a shopping mall parking lot it is now annually a 1,000 plus car show. This year had another record turnout with 1,051 registered vehicles plus many showing up that never did register. The Triumph Club again did a wonderful souvenir program that featured many British cars and car clubs beyond the Triumph marques, which is very fitting for ‘British Car Day’. For those members not familiar with this show, it is just ½ hour west of Toronto and approx. one hour from Buffalo, an easy jaunt on the expressway or a pleasant country lane tour to get here.

I must say, this was a most congenial group and I believe everyone, without exception, had a great time over the weekend. Thanks to all those who were able to come from far and wide; there were several who couldn’t make it for a variety of reasons and sent their regrets.

What with meeting friends and being a Show Judge, the whole show was a bit of a blur to me but never-the-less terrific. In fact, I never was able to tour the whole show, need a 2-day event for that to happen.

See you next year and please join us on the Friday and Saturday for the tours. We already have plans for 2018 and a new venue for the banquet on Saturday as well as alternative hotel options. Watch our web site for further developments.

Keep the shiny side up.

Tony Fox.

To see video of British Car Day, please click on the links below

Video (1) of BCD
Video (2) of BCD
Video (3) of BCD

Chris Holbrook