With social distancing largely in the rearview mirror, one of Jacksonville’s biggest monthly events for automotive enthusiasts is returning and teaming up with North America’s largest monthly car show.
Jacksonville Cars & Coffee is relaunching July 10 at The Avenues mall as the inaugural edition of Caffeine & Octane Jacksonville, by pairing up with the organizers of suburban Atlanta's Caffeine and Octane, which is billed as the nation’s largest monthly car show.
Organizer Chris Brewer also announced a separate event, a “special blend” called 904 Octane. That car show will have its inaugural edition at WJCT Public Media this Sept. 4.
The Caffeine & Octane car show and brand has become so large that it spawned the Caffeine & Octane TV show on the NBC Sports Network. Brewer said fans of the show can expect it to occasionally record in Jacksonville.
Like Caffeine and Octane’s July 2021 gathering in metro Atlanta, the inaugural Jacksonville event will celebrate local and national military vehicles with a dedicated parking and display area, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on July 10.
Jacksonville Cars & Coffee was the brainchild of Malcolm Hogan, who guided the show for many years, starting in 2007, before eventually handing it off to Brewer. The two are best friends. Each time it has moved, it has grown, with former locations including the Markets at Town Center and Brooklyn's 1 Riverside Ave., where The Florida Times-Union was formerly headquartered. Jacksonville Cars & Coffee has regularly attracted more than a thousand people and hundreds of classic and exotic cars.
With the new Caffeine & Octane affiliation and added exposure, Brewer expects the Jacksonville show’s size to continue to increase. To keep it safe and family oriented, Brewer said he would be bring in more JSO officers along with more volunteers.
“Some of the themes that Caffeine & Octane bring to the table is a quest for excellence and for safety and for family fun,” said Brewer.
While Brewer is looking forward to the growth of Caffeine & Octane Jacksonville, he also has warm memories of the Downtown shows he and Hogan used to put together along the St. Johns River, which is why Brewer said he’s looking forward to bringing 904 Octane to WJCT Public Media on September 4, because WJCT is also located on the river.
“It's the perfect spot. It's an absolutely stunning location. It's right Downtown. Could you be in the more of the center of things in the city? It's just absolutely perfect. So the smaller parking area will give it a little more of a family feeling, I believe a little more of a tight knit community," he said.
Brewer is still finalizing the details for the September's 904 Octane debut, which will be held from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at 100 Festival Park Ave.
“We talked about having a small admission fee for this event, having it be something where we're giving back to the community through charity," he said.
Anyone who would like to volunteer at Caffeine & Octane Jacksonville or 904 Octane can get in touch with Brewer on Facebook.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
