Meet Org 101: The Ropes Behind Legends of the 90’s

I could never figure out how I’d find myself in the position of running the bi-annual circus that is the Legends of The 90’s. What started as a small gathering of fellow 90’s-era enthusiasts back in 2015 somehow snowballed into the fanfare we’ve come to know in a span of just four years. This casual gathering – while still in nature a car meet for our attendees – has become an exercise in logistics for the organizers as the years go by, and it is this side of the coin I would like to share.

You see, organizing a car meet shouldn’t be that hard. You call a few friends, find a decent parking spot (ideally with food nearby), and all gather there at a certain time. This fundamental formula can only work to a certain extent because other factors come into play as the number of cars start increasing. What works for a group of 10 cars will not exactly translate to what works with 100 cars, and this is where our logistical hurdles enter the picture.

The first, most common-sensical problem would be space. When you invite a hundred cars to a venue that can only fit 50, you will cause a load of problems for yourself and those around the vicinity. Your meet can potentially cause traffic jams, long lines into the carpark, or even have venue security asking people to leave the premises. These problems can spoil the fun for everyone, so we take into consideration the number of potential attendees we would be expecting at every meet. For the recently concluded Year Opener meet for example, we accounted for about 200 cars to fit into our venue – a number which we slightly underestimated… by a hundred cars. Sorry ArcoVia.

Speaking of security, for a high population meet you will already need to discuss with the property owners about the nature of your event. Considering a meet like Legends will probably have 200 cars and more than double that in foot traffic, nowadays we always scout ahead for potential venues and discuss with their respective administration offices regarding our plans. This includes sitting down with the admin representatives and presenting to them what our meet is all about. We have a short PowerPoint presentation and key visual materials to further aid in showing the venue what they can expect from our meet. Yes, we are indeed using the very same skills we’ve picked up from countless panel defenses in university – all in the name of getting a proper venue.

After securing the venue, we usually move on towards curating the vehicles and people that participate in our event. Considering the hype that gets built around our meets, we usually filter the vehicles and individuals that participate to be the best of the best in town. No half-assed builds, no cliché setups, and no displeasing personalities. We take our scrutineering seriously once you submit an entry to our page. Once accepted, we give each owner a QR code that corresponds to their vehicle details on our database. They will need to show this code at the entrance to be granted entry into the meet proper itself. Being rejected for the upcoming meet however does not mean you can’t try again next time. We understand that perfection takes time, and Legends Of The 90s will always be around to wait for you to try again.

Throughout the years of doing these meets, a bunch of folks in the community have also helped us with spicing things up for all attendees. Thus, we collaborate with a few brands that want to sponsor our events by way of giving small tokens or products for those vehicles we choose to recognize at the end of every meet. We get everything from cleaning products, to lubricants, and even random 90’s memorabilia to further bring the whole ‘time travel’ theme of the meet together. As for entertainment, we’ve long since collaborated with Red Bull and their mobile DJ Truck to provide the staple 90’s music that fills the background of every Legends of the 90’s meet.

Once the date, venue, and entries have been set, the physically tiring bit comes during the day itself. Each of the Legends admins have different responsibilities throughout the day of the meet itself to ensure that everything goes smoothly for all the participants. While Marco mans the merchandise booth, Ryan usually handles the ingress itself by scanning the QR codes for every car that goes through the entrance. Once that checks out, I approach every vehicle that comes into the parking area and assign them their designated spots. The arrangement of cars during the meet usually plays by ear and depends highly on the venue’s aesthetics. We try to place every type of car together in one spot so the meet will look like an exhibit that categorizes vehicles by make, brand, or genre. Aside from that, we usually position the Red Bull truck somewhere in the middle so that music can be heard across the meet proper. While this looks simple enough, imagine having to sort 300 cars between just three people. Not exactly easy when you’re doing it all day. As we continue to grow we may need some help running the show – Any volunteers?

All these steps culminate into the atmosphere and vibe that Legends of the 90s has been known for these past few years. As one of the guys who runs the whole show behind the scenes, I can tell you that despite the difficulties of organizing meets like these, the fulfilment of seeing all the rare 90’s machinery along with the smiles on everyone’s faces makes it all worth the trouble.

We’ve got another meet at the end of this year. Wonder what we’ll see next?

Words by Aurick Go

Photos by Jaime Miguel Echavez