10/05/2025
Dear Carmel Mountain Car Show Family,
After six incredible years, I am putting down the clipboard, raffle tickets, the emergency duct tape — and stepping down as your humble, hilarious email sending (and occasionally frantic) showrunner.
When I first took over the Carmel Mountain Car Show, the mission was simple: raise money for the Long Valley Veterans Monument. What started as a small, meaningful effort quickly snowballed into something bigger for the show— more cars, bigger crowds, wilder contests, and a community that just kept showing up and showing love.
Once the monument was complete, we shifted gears — putting our support behind the amazing high school students who built our trophies by hand. And let me tell you: nothing makes a car look better than a trophy welded by a teenager who skipped lunch to finish it. Supporting those kids was one of the proudest evolutions of the show. They enjoyed making the trophies. You loved seeing the trophies and supporting the kids. They really liked you buying raffle tickets so I could give them money towards their class funds to go on their senior trip. (They are seniors now, and I'm not ok with that!)
But let’s not forget the chaos:
The frozen T-shirt contest, where adults and kids battled hypothermia for bragging rights, a gold medal, and fifty bucks.
The pie-eating contest, where I made the mistake of standing too close to Kermit, twice! (Spoiler: whipped cream, chocolate pie and hair do not mix.)
And the parade of games I had to invent — because apparently, organizing a car show wasn’t hard enough, I decided to throw in whatever crazy game I could dream up for everyone's entertainment.
Through it all — the heat, the rain, the parking chaos, the trophy panic, the caffeine-fueled mornings — you made it all worth it. You showed up. You laughed. You cheered each other on. You supported the Veterans and the kids. You shared your stories, your rides, and your hearts.
I may be stepping down, but the memories, friendships, and shenanigans will stay with me forever. (The good, the bad, and the chocolate pie kind)
Thank you for going along for the ride with me and this show. For supporting our Long Valley Veterans. For encouraging our Valley High kids. And for being the kind of people that makes saying goodbye the hardest part of all.
To everyone who helped me make this show fun and the one everyone wanted to come to — the car owners, vendors, especially my volunteers, veterans, students, special guests and faithful attendees — from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
With grease-stained gratitude and maybe just a little whipped cream still in my ear,
Emalene Lake
Former (and forever proud) Showrunner
Carmel Mountain Car Show
2020–2025
P.S.
Should you ever need me for comic relief, smart-ass comments, great meme's or just to say hello - I'm just a call, text or email away.
