www.montereycountynow.com AUGUST 14-20, 2025 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 19 I’ve been conducting an informal poll of Monterey County residents about Car Week: Do they love it, hate it, or are they indifferent? I’ve been surprised by how many respondees are indifferent. They might like certain types of events (say, vintage racing) and not others (exotics); they might find the traffic a hassle but can hunker down; it’s super busy, but good for business. Such contradictions are nothing new for the Peninsula’s tourism-driven economy. There are impacts year-round from tourism—traffic is a big one— but it’s most noticeable during peaks. And there is no more obvious peak than Car Week, which draws 100,000 visitors and accounts for 5 percent of all hotel room nights for the entire year, according to See Monterey, the county’s tourism bureau. Whether you love it or hate it, it’s nearly impossible to avoid Car Week. See Monterey counts 42 events (and some of those repeat). And that’s not including the plethora of private events that do not make See Monterey’s calendar. Events in unincorporated Monterey County—including Pebble Beach and Carmel Valley—go to the County Housing and Community Development Department for review, meaning there is at least a public record that they exist. But many do not. In some cases, it’s because no special event application is required: Throwing a party in your backyard is not necessarily an “event.” If you expect more than 100 attendees, it might be. If you are selling food or drink, it’s an event. If you charge admission, it’s an event. Same if you’re erecting a tent larger than 400 square feet. Each of these checkboxes triggers review by various agencies. For example, the County Health Department signs off on a temporary kitchen; the building inspector checks tents for safety; the Sheriff’s Office is on safety and evacuation routes. To account for the multi-agency nature of event review, the Monterey County Special Event Task Force brings together various departments to keep tabs on who needs to do what. They meet monthly and last month, on July 23, reviewed 20 events, ranging from a private birthday party to a nonprofit anniversary celebration to Car Week events including an Aug. 16 road race between San Ardo and San Lucas, and an invitation-only “Aston Martin of the Americas” party in Pebble Beach featuring the debut of the Valhalla, a new hybrid. By HCD’s official count, there are 16 public events and six private events—astoundingly low—tied to Car Week. Permit Center Manager Liz Gonzales concedes there are likely many more. “A lot of organizers kind of jump from house to house: Why spend $9,000 on a coastal development permit when they are not going to have it at that same place the next year?” Pebble Beach is a particular area of concern, she adds. The county’s task force only addresses events in unincorporated Monterey County. Events in the cities of Carmel, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Seaside and Marina don’t go to the County for review. No agency is accounting for the big picture. If somebody were to apply today to host Car Week as we know it, I think we can all agree it would have zero chance of being approved. It would require intensive environmental review, not just a questionnaire about street closures, porta- potties and alcohol sales, each reviewed independently by independent agencies. Cumulatively there is traffic, noise and environmental impact in the form of untold emissions—from the show vehicles themselves, the car-hauling trucks, the private jets that fly visitors to MRY. But the impacts of Car Week are not addressed cumulatively, instead in a piecemeal eventby-event, tent-by tent approach. “The impacts are felt on the roads we all share and the neighborhoods we all live in,” says County Supervisor Kate Daniels. “We all understand the benefits of Car Week. But we need to ensure we can continue to be able to function as a community.” I asked Daniels if she might convene a group to zoom out and think broadly about Car Week’s cumulative footprint; she said yes. “We have an opportunity to maybe reimagine the entire thing and ask ourselves, what we are looking for in terms of the totality of the event,” she says. “It’s time to revisit what we want out of this event as a county.” Sara Rubin is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@montereycountynow.com or follow her at @sarahayleyrubin.bsky.social. Zooming Out It’s time to rethink the ever-growing series of Car Week events. By Sara Rubin DRIVE TRAIN…Like many creatures of both land and sea, Squid stays close to home during Car Week, stocking up on shrimp-flavored popcorn and inviting cephalopods over for friendly poker games (octopuses have the worst poker faces, blushing with every flush). Squid’s interest was piqued by an event called the Central Coast Poker Rally, only to find out that no poker will be played. Rather, a group of cars was set to go full tilt around Squid’s lair on Aug. 11. The day kicked off at a bar where, if the promotional video on the rally’s website is to be believed, mimosas and Bloody Marys flow freely. No problem with that, except it’s the ante to…drive around. (Squid checked, that’s still illegal; an organizer argues it probably just show spectators.) The itinerary then promised a drive to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for photo ops, before “traveling down Lourdes Grade on Carmel Valley Road.” Squid assumes they mean not a hill next to the French cathedral, but Laureles Grade, where participants would have a needed chance to sober up waiting at the construction traffic light before driving to a restaurant (with two more drink tickets to start— maybe the designated drivers give theirs away?) to end the 37-mile drive. “They are required to follow the law and not drive intoxicated,” explains an organizer of the event, now in its fifth year. The heart of the Rally, says the website, is their commitment to giving back. Squid tried to donate to the group’s 2025 charity, but the donate button didn’t work. Besides, the charity is based in New York. Squid donates a portion of Squid’s poker winnings locally instead. SLIP N’ SLIDE…Squid loves to lounge around the lair, but is not the most patient cephalopod of the sea. When Squid needs to get somewhere, Squid knows creative ways to ooze and dart through the water. So when Squid heard there was going to be an announcement about the long-awaited cleanup of Regent’s Slide—which has been blocking Highway 1 through Big Sur since February 2024—Squid was ready to leap into the jalopy for a road trip. (Passage all the way through has been blocked since early 2023.) In mid-July, Toks Omishakin, the State Secretary of Transportation, visited the southern end—a little too far for Squid to swim to—“to provide the latest updates” on the closure. Only his update was mostly to announce there would be another update, sometime kinda soon. “Caltrans will update the public and local business owners with an estimated date for the reopening of Regent’s Slide by the end of summer,” the agency promised following Omishakin’s tour. Summer hasn’t ended yet, but Caltrans already followed up to clarify: an update is coming mid-September. But given their track record, Squid has doubts: What if the big September announcement…slips? THE LOCAL SPIN SQUID FRY THE MISSION OF MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY IS TO INSPIRE INDEPENDENT THINKING AND CONSCIOUS ACTION, ETC. “The impacts are felt on the roads we all share.” SEND SQUID A TIP: squid@montereycountynow.com
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==