The much-loved super-retro Ontario event is bringing more than 250 cars to what was once Pioneer Village in early August
Did your field trips ever take you to Pioneer Village? Turns out the venue (now known as Country Heritage Park) has largely stayed the same over the past 40 years. “We were actually working on another theme” – a show at the Ontario Science Centre #RIP – “when [Canadian Heritage Park] was recommended to us,” says Oblivion founder and coordinator Justin Sookraj.
“I didn’t really consider it in the past because it was more 1880s than 1980s,” he admits. “However, I had a connection to the place in that it hadn’t changed much since I was there at eight and 11 years old on school trips. While [the Park] is generally against car shows, they made an exception given the scope and range of our festival.”
The cars, of course, are the stars, and the stuff we’ve seen at past Oblivion events demonstrated how strictly Sookraj and his co-coordinators hew to their self-imposed rule to keep the vehicles there as period-correct as possible—no modern mods, with the turn of the millennium being the cut-off they aim for.
But besides the cars, Oblivion also aims to bring back the feel of the ’80s and ’90s through a variety of on-site exhibits, including massive arcades filled with not only classic machines but vintage computers and consoles; period-appropriate music and decor; and vendors hawking authentic retro toys and media.
This year, Oblivion’s hired two “teachers” that’ll need to see your permission slips before they let on the bus that shuttles you from one end of the 80-acre park to the other. “We will have two session of the educational demonstrations they run on actual field trips, such as the blacksmith shop and pioneer home [tour],” Sookraj adds, plus of course food trucks and beer and cocktail tents, too.