ESTEVAN - The Canadian Coasters 2022 will be through southeast Saskatchewan early next week with their 55th anniversary tour across Canada.
On Aug. 15, classic and vintage vehicles from all across Canada that gathered in St. John's in July to go on a coast-to-coast journey, will be passing through Carnduff and Estevan. They will leave Souris, Man., in the morning and will be going through Estevan between 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Monday.
In Carnduff the group plans to stop for a snack at the local Subway, then they will continue to the Energy City to later have a break at Mainprize Regional Park on Aug. 15-16. They will take Highway 39 to get to Mainprize.
After that, the Canadian Coasters will head out to Willow Bunch and further to end their trip in Victoria, B.C.
They encourage the local communities to give them a wave as they pass through or visit them at their campsites. Everyone is welcome and can bring their own special vehicle if they like.
"This is an open invitation, there is no cost, (unless the campgrounds have a visitor day fee) we love nothing better than have the locals stop by and ‘kick the tires’, talk about our vehicles, and our adventures across this vast land. We want to learn more about Canada and the small towns and cities we visit from the locals, and we want to share our adventures with other Canadians," said tour book co-ordinator Kathy Nicolette in an email to the Mercury.
Fraser and Dorothy Field are wagon masters of this year's tour.
The Canadian Coasters' last tour was in celebration of Canada's 150th birthday, which coincided with The Canadian Coasters' 50th anniversary.
This year, they are again taking the roads less travelled, seeking new adventures and seeing as much of small-town Canada as they can.
With members from every province, they have 55 vehicles registered for the tour. Their epic journey will travel coast to coast in 68 days.
They began the tour on July 1 by dipping the wheels in the Atlantic Ocean in Cupid's NL and will end it Sep. 6 with a wheel dipping in the Pacific Ocean in Victoria, B.C.
Throughout this journey, they will be exploring not only the back roads and scenic beauty that Canada has to offer, but also as much of the cultural diversity within each community and province. They will visit many of the national parks, museums and historical sites, and will also enjoy the hospitality of local car enthusiasts and clubs who have arranged side trips showcasing their hometowns, private collections of automobiles and many other stops of interest.
History of The Canadian Coasters
The Canadian Coasters' history began early in 1966. A group from Ontario, the Historical Automobile Club of Canada (HASC), started to promote the idea to have an Antique Car Tour that travelled across Canada. Canada's Centennial was coming up in 1967 and they thought there was no better way to promote the old car hobby and the centennial.
Most known antique car clubs in Canada were contacted and invited to take part. The tour started in Victoria, B.C., and travelled to St. John's. This tour was hosted by various clubs as it passed through their areas. Hobbyists joined the tour where they wanted and stayed on tour as long as their holidays allowed.
There were 125 official registrations. Of all registrations, nine cars covered the total distance under their own power. This tour unified the car clubs coast to coast and was a big step in the formation of a Canadian chartered organization.
The Coasters, as they were originally named, decreed that the tour should be repeated every decade or so. Despite the massive, multi-year, volunteer effort involved each time, The Canadian Coasters, as they are now called, are on their eighth tour.
- 1967 Coast to Coast – Victoria to Newfoundland;
- 1970 Montreal to the east coast for those who couldn't stay on the first tour past Expo 67;
- 1975 to Calgary for its Centennial;
- 1992 Coast to Coast – Newfoundland to Victoria;
- 2000 Coast to Coast Millennial Tour – Victoria to Newfoundland;
- 2010 Coast to Coast – Newfoundland to Victoria;
- 2017 Coast to Coast – Victoria to Newfoundland – to Celebrate the Coasters' 50th Anniversary and Canada's 150th birthday; and
- 2022 Coast to Coast – Newfoundland to Victoria.
One of the founders' initial intentions was to unify antique car clubs across every province. The result was the establishment of the first chartered organization, now the National Association of Automobile Clubs of Canada (NAACC). Unifying the car clubs across Canada was just one of the four original goals which included:
- To travel across the breadth of Canada on its 100th birthday – to see as much of it as possible – the slow and easy way;
- To join together all of the antique car clubs of Canada in a co-operative effort as another step toward building a working federation;
- To show the people of Canada the part that the antique auto clubs are taking to preserve an important segment of Canadian history; and
- To assist other centennial celebrations where possible.
More information can be found at The Canadian Coasters website www.coasters2022.com.
