Fans flock to Shepparton for Springnats’ 30th anniversary

By Murray Silby

Nov 27, 2023

**Escorting the way:** Briana Cable and Shannon Heraud put on a show in their MK1 Ford Escort at Springnats 2023 in Shepparton. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

More than 37,000 revheads passed through the gates of the Shepparton Showgrounds across four days for one of Australia's “not to be missed” car shows.

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Celebrating its 30th anniversary, from November 23 to 26, Springnats’ mixed program of burnout and drift demonstrations through to live music and a show ‘n’ shine kept the enthusiastic crowd entertained.

Springnats and Autofest Australia operations manager Les Adams said the crowd was the biggest he’s seen since the event moved to the showgrounds.

“Saturday was the largest crowd I’ve seen at our event in the 14 years we’ve been at the showgrounds,” he said.

“Especially on Saturday. It was bumper to bumper, people everywhere.

“The street parade was mad. I’ve never seen so many people at a street parade.

“Cars, utes and panel vans. There was over 200 cars in the parade.”

Mr Adams said a downpour on Friday night sent some enthusiasts heading home for cover, but that was late in proceedings and didn’t caused too much interruption.

He said the original reason for the creation of the Springnats — providing a safe space for young and old revheads to do their burnouts and show off their cars — was still an important motivation for organisers.

“That was the reason it started from day one,” he said.

“It was giving people a place to come and show off in a safe way.”

Shepparton police said the crowd enjoyed the weekend without any significant matters.

“We had a highly visible police presence over the four-day weekend, but there were no major incidents over the four days of the event, the community was really well-behaved,” Shepparton police Senior Sergeant Shane Biderman said.