History of EV Fest - Beginnings

How did we get started with
"EV Fest, Toronto's Premier Electric Vehicle Fall Festival"?

Electric Vehicle Society of Canada Webmaster and communications person, Robert Weekley, received an email inquiry, which asked some questions that lead him do some research, that lead to contacting Scarborough Toyota, who referred him to their Service Manager - Pat Barnes.

The subject of interest was Plug-in Hybrid Conversions, of which they were listed as an installer for one company for. It was discovered that Pat, and his Dealer Principle, had great interest in Electric Vehicles, with Plug-in Hybrids being a step in that direction that they felt ready to take.

An invitation to meet with the Electric Vehicle Society of Canada was extended to Pat. Pat involved his brother, Dave Barnes, who was working with a group of Students interested in making a 'Better Website' for locating Places for Electric Vehicles to Plug In, and Dave shared Robert's interest in Helping the Students, with Guidance, and direction where he could, to their Teacher.

This Lead to a meeting, of Pat, Dave, Robert, and the Teacher; to discuss the project, and along the way - a discussion moved to having an Event to promote Electric Vehicles with the Support of Pat Barnes and Scarborough Toyota.

This lead to the beginning with a Spring Electric Vehicle Show on April 10, 2010, called "EV Show & Shine BBQ", which had the support also of Erik Haltrech, President of the Toronto Hybrid Group and his team, (invited on board by Pat) and their efforts to round out the selections of the Exhibited Vehicles with Hybrids and Plug-in Hybrids of a couple of flavours.

When that show was completed with just five weeks planning, and the results observed, it was agreed to do another Electric Vehicle show, and this time the possibility of a New Domain Name was considered, one to be for Show itself. So - EV Fest was born in the mid-spring of 2010, and the Domain was quickly registered by Robert Weekley: www.evfest.ca 

Taking what was learned to work in the Spring Show, Robert continued, and with the Support of Leadership of the Electric Vehicle Society of Canada, and working with the Toronto Hybrid Group, plans began to go forward for EV Fest. Website content was started, basic ideas discussed, and we began!

One of the important things we learned in the Spring Electric Vehicle Show - "EV Show & Shine BBQ" was we needed some better ways to promote and track attendance, so a registration tool was chosen, for Exhibitors to register their commitment, Volunteers to come on board, and Guests to sign up with a plan to come and see the Event! This has lead to the Ability of Key groups to collaborate on progressive improvements, and marketing ideas, and monitor the results, tweaking things as they go.

Business Card sized promotional pieces were first used to start the offline promotion of EV Fest, and they contained the first coining of the Key Brand: "EV Fest, Toronto's Premier Electric Vehicle Fall Festival", designed to inspire Planners, Exhibitors, and the Guests all in one focused statement!

The culmination of the show on October 17, 2010, being the First of hopefully many "EV Fest's" delivered excellent results, with every guest enjoying the selection, choices, and variations on display of this vary new, yet well enjoyed Event. Some 500 People attended the Event, and we have saved the full site content in our Past Events page for 2010 - Events page for 2010 - here.

Our thanks to our many Exhibitors and to the more than 500 people who registered and made EV Fest 2010 the Best Ever Electric Vehicle Show had in the GTA!

This show shaped up to become a tremendous opportunity for manufacturers, educators, and hobbyists to showcase to the buying public how their future transportation options will look and explain how they will differ from current vehicles. We had more Electric Vehicle's registered for Exhibit than were at the 2010 Toronto Auto Show, ranging from High School Student Conversions to Million Dollar plus EV Prototypes, and the 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport!

For a running tally of EV Fest over the years - see the Highlights page.

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