News

Our 2023 event is coming up next week-end, Saturday, July 22 from 10AM to 3PM inside Maude Cobb Convention Center in Longview, Texas.  This is an event you will not want to miss - get out of the heat and enjoy an air conditioned auto show!

All proceeds raised will be donated to the East Texas Alzheimer's Alliance!  We sincerely appreciate our sponsors!

Source: Longview News Journal - By Sherry P. Shephard sshephard@news-journal.com

Auto enthusiasts looking for something to do this weekend can head over to Maude Cobb Convention and Activity Center for the annual Drive to Remember Car Show beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Cameron Williams founded the nonprofit Drive to Remember in 2016, when the first car show took place.

“I started it because my father had Alzheimer’s disease and he passed away from it in 2016,” he said. “I chose to do this as a positive way to deal with that personal loss but also to try to help others dealing with the same thing.”

Williams wanted not only to raise awareness about the disease but to raise funds to help with research.

Proceeds from the Drive to Remember event benefit the East Texas Alzheimer’s Alliance.

“We’ve also funded the Smith County Alzheimer’s Alliance in the past,” he said. “And we’ve donated to the UT Southwestern Medical Research Center for dementia and Alzheimer’s in Dallas, as well.”

Williams said the Cadillac V-Club is the car show’s biggest sponsor.

“This is a car club that is specifically supported by Cadillac headquarters,” he said. “They are a big name in the DFW area, and they have been our biggest sponsor every year.”

Williams said the Drive to Remember Car Show draws people from all over, not just from East Texas.

“We get a lot of people from Dallas and the surrounding DFW area, and we try to bring in very high-end luxury and exotic cars like Lamborghini and Ferrari,” he said. “And we have a lot of very nice classic cars that we showcase as well.”

Also worth mentioning, Williams said, is that Cadillac headquarters in Detroit will have a vehicle at this weekend’s show.

“They will be sending their latest, most powerful car ever produced by Cadillac to showcase at our event,” he said. “The 2022 CT5-V Blackwing is a vehicle arriving in Cadillac dealerships this month.”

On average, Williams said the show brings in 90 to 100 vehicles each year.

“Normally, on average within the five-hour period, anywhere from 500 to 750 people come through for general admission,” he said. “We have had close to 1,000 attendees in prior years."

However, COVID-19 threw a wrench into plans for last year’s show. Instead of an indoor event, the car show was taken outdoors.

“Our local hotel owner at the Holiday Inn … allowed us to have it in their parking lot next to their convention center,” Williams said. “Attendance was better than expected. We had probably 250 people who showed up, which is not a lot, and we had about 70 participants with their vehicles.”

Williams said the goal is to continue the show each year.

“And hopefully we’ll grow it even beyond Longview,” he said. “But for the time being, it’s definitely in the plans to keep it going for the foreseeable future.”

Drive To Remember is on it's way to a major comeback for 2021!  Booth space is now available on a first come first serve basis. Click here to visit our event calendar to register as an event sponsor. You may pay online via credit card or optionally send us a check to the address included in the invoice you will receive via email.

The 2021 Drive to Remember event is Saturday, August 21, 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Maude Cobb Convention Center in Longview, TX.  For the last five years, our events have seen a lot of success with the help of our sponsors, fellow car enthusiasts and East Texas community. Due to the pandemic, 2020 was our fist outdoor event. Although we were not able to offer a full scale event, we were fortunate enough to receive enough support to continue our mission. 2021 IS OUR COMEBACK YEAR!

Our intent is to host an exciting day for families and people of all ages to attend and in the process raise additional funds and awareness for the East Texas Alzheimer’s Alliance. Please join us as a sponsor and supporter for this cause. Through the generosity of companies such as yours, the East Texas Alzheimer’s Alliance and dedicated volunteers will be able to offer assistance, programs, and services to caregivers and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease in our local community. As a sponsor you are a vital part of building greater awareness and promoting your company’s commitment to East Texas. All sponsors are entitled to a vendor table at the event, and will receive recognition on the day of event, as well as being included in brochures, announcements, and advertising.

To participate as a sponsor, please complete our online event sponsor commitment registration form so that we may begin including you in our advertising and plans. You may pay online via credit card or optionally mail a company check.  You will receive an invoice via email as soon as you submit your sponsor registration form.  

We are available to visit with you personally to answer questions and provide more details about your involvement in the Drive to Remember event. We would appreciate sponsor support being sent as early as possible in order to be included in promotions.

Thank you in advance for considering this opportunity. Please contact either of the people listed below with questions or to receive additional information about your interest in sponsoring Drive to Remember and helping to support the East Texas Alzheimer’s Alliance.

Cameron Williams
Drive To Remember
President / Founder
(903)445-9921

We are now accepting reservations for booth space at our upcoming outdoor car show. Click here to visit our event calendar to register as an event sponsor.  You may pay online via credit card or optionally send us a check to the address included in the invoice you will receive via email.

The 2020 Drive to Remember event is Saturday, July 11, 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Infinity Event Center @ Holiday Inn, Longview, Tx.  Our show for the last four years has been a huge success and 2020 promises to be even better. Our intent is to host an exciting day for families and people of all ages to attend and in the process raise additional funds and awareness of the East Texas Alzheimer’s Alliance. Please join us as a sponsor and supporter for this cause. Through the generosity of companies such as yours, the East Texas Alzheimer’s Alliance and dedicated volunteers will be able to offer assistance, programs, and services to caregivers and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease in our local community. As a sponsor you are a vital part of building greater awareness and promoting your company’s commitment to East Texas. All sponsors are entitled to a vendor table at the event, and will receive recognition on the day of event, as well as being included in brochures, announcements, and advertising.

To participate as a sponsor, please complete our online event sponsor commitment registration form so that we may begin including you in our advertising and plans.  You may pay online via credit card or optionally mail a company check.  You will receive an invoice via email as soon as you submit your sponsor registration form.  

We are available to visit with you personally to answer questions and provide more details about your involvement in the Drive to Remember event. We would appreciate sponsor support being sent as early as possible in order to be included in promotions.

Thank you in advance for considering this opportunity. Please contact either of the people listed below with questions or to receive additional information about your interest in sponsoring Drive to Remember and helping to support the East Texas Alzheimer’s Alliance.  

Drive To Remember has successfully completed it's fourth annual automotive event, which took place on July 13th of 2019. Since our first year, I have personally seen a growing interest in the community for this event and I'm absolutely thrilled with the results! 2019 was a big year for us because we organized this event with the intent of raising the bar. Thanks to our dedicated sponsors, we were able to succeed in more ways than one! First and foremost, we are incredibly thankful for the Cadillac V-Club! Mike Franks, the President of the club, has rallied his members to support our event for three years in a row. For 2019, they came in with full force as our HEADLINE SPONSOR and displayed a beautiful collection of various Cadillac V-Performance vehicles. We have a lot to be thankful for from these individuals because of their travels and genuine display of support.

We also received continued support from repeat sponsors Thirty Three Auto Clean, Perfection Correction LLC, Longview Diesel & Performance, Patterson Nissan of Longview, Capital One Bank, Colors on Parade and the Longview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. This shows us that we are building healthy relationships with local businesses who see the value in our mission. On top of this continued support, we also gained Sugar Magnolia Properties, One Stop Automotive, Vera Bank and The Cammack Family Welch Funeral Home as new sponsors!

The sponsors, private donations, apparel sales and general admission fees allowed us to raise more funds than we have from previous events. With that being said, we donated $12,000 to the East Texas Alzheimer's Alliance, which provides resources and support for those suffering from Alzheimer's in our local community. This is exactly why Drive To Remember exists. We want to make a positive difference in our local community by bringing people together for a common goal. We strive to provide awareness of what Alzheimer's disease actually is so that we can eliminate the common misconceptions that inaccurately represent this horrible disease. Drive To Remember will continue to fight for this cause and we look forward to future success with our growing team of supporters!

Thank you, to all of our sponsors, supporters and representatives that help make this a successful journey.

Cameron Williams President / Founder

We are now accepting reservations for booth space at our upcoming indoor car show. Click here to visit our event calendar to register as an event sponsor.  You may pay online via credit card or optionally send us a check to the address included in the invoice you will receive via email.

The 2019 Drive to Remember event is Saturday, July 13, 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Maude Cobb Convention Center, Longview, Tx. Our show for the last three years has been a huge success and 2019 promises to be even better. Our intent is to host an exciting day for families and people of all ages to attend and in the process raise additional funds and awareness of the East Texas Alzheimer’s Alliance. Please join us as a sponsor and supporter for this cause. Through the generosity of companies such as yours, the East Texas Alzheimer’s Alliance and dedicated volunteers will be able to offer assistance, programs, and services to caregivers and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease in our local community. As a sponsor you are a vital part of building greater awareness and promoting your company’s commitment to East Texas. All sponsors are entitled to a vendor table at the event, and will receive recognition on the day of event, as well as being included in brochures, announcements, and advertising.

To participate as a sponsor, please complete our online event sponsor commitment registration form so that we may begin including you in our advertising and plans.  You may pay online via credit card or optionally mail a company check.  You will receive an invoice via email as soon as you submit your sponsor registration form.  

We are available to visit with you personally to answer questions and provide more details about your involvement in the Drive to Remember event. We would appreciate sponsor support being sent as early as possible in order to be included in promotions.

Thank you in advance for considering this opportunity. Please contact either of the people listed below with questions or to receive additional information about your interest in sponsoring Drive to Remember and helping to support the East Texas Alzheimer’s Alliance.  Click here to view the logos of companies who have already committed to our 2019 Drive to Remember event.

The Cadillac V-Club was announced today as our 2019 Drive to Remember Car Show "Presenting" Sponsor.  The V-Club organization attended and financially supported our event in 2017 and 2018 and this year is our single largest financial contributor.

Mike Franks, the President of the Cadillac V-Club stated "we are proud to be associated with such a outstanding charity and our members have enjoyed the cruise to Longview, Texas to hang out with other car enthusiasts.  Our club prefers to support localized charities and D2R is a perfect fit.  We also support the Dennis Sehorn ALS Foundation which is based in Houston."

The Cadillac V-Club is based out of Fort Worth, Texas and was founded in 2013 with a title sponsorship endorsement by the Sewell Cadillac family of dealerships. The club currently has 320 Cadillac V-Series owner members spread across 23 different states with 3 international members located in Canada.  Be sure to checkout their website at CadillacVClub.com .

There will be 10 Cadillac V-Series vehicles of various models on display in the car show including some highly modified and limited edition models.

Automotive fans of all ages clamour to get a closer look at Dr. Scott Leiberman's bright red Lamborghini at Saturday's, July 16 Drive to Remember Car Show at  the Maude Cobb Convention and Activity Center. (Les Hassel/News-Journal Photo)

Betty Atkerson had no idea that the car show she and family members enjoyed Saturday benefited research to fight Alzheimer's disease, an illness that killed her father and her mother-in-law several years ago.

"I'm glad they're having it," Atkerson said. "They need to do it every other week."

Atkerson and her husband joined her brother- and sister-in-law from their Lake Murvaul homes to come to Maude Cobb Activity and Convention Center in Longview for the Drive to Remember Car Show.

The show was organized by Cameron Williams, whose father, David Williams, is battling the disease. Proceeds from ticket sales and other promotions benefited Alzehimer's disease research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, he said.

"There's so many unknowns with this disease, especially with clarifying what's the cause, and what's the treatment program we can use for this to delay the further onset of this progression," Williams said.

"There's a lot of unknowns, and that's why it's necessary to do more research and have new breakthroughs. That way, we can have better treatment programs and hopefully one day have an actual cure or something that can drastically delay the disease, or prevent it."

Hundreds of East Texans arrived to check out more than 70 restored Ferraris, Corvettes, muscle and racing cars and trucks at the show Williams said took about eight months to organize.

He decided to use car shows as his charity's fundraiser because of their popularity in East Texas and because cars were a hobby Williams shared with his father.

He runs Drive to Remember with the help of two board members, his mother, Sherita Williams, and Cammy Camp.

"I think it's really cool how Cameron went back to what his dad did when he was a kid and used it to help his dad now as he's struggling," said friend Addison Smith. She and her mother, Terri Smith, said they've had more than five family members suffer from Alzheimer's.

"It traps you in your own body. It's like your body isn't deteriorating at first, but your mind is, and so you're looking at yourself in the mirror and you don't know yourself anymore, and you don't know your loved ones, and so it's a very crippling disease, but of the mind and not of the body at first," Terri Smith said.

About 15 local businesses sponsored Saturday's car show.

Reprint from Longview News Journal
By Jimmy Daniell Isaac jisaac@news-journal.com Reporter