Yamba was abuzz over the weekend as thousands of people enjoyed the 32nd Borderline Street Rodders Yamba Rod Run and the record 511 entrants who came from as far as Tasmania and Cairns to be a part of the fun.

Saturday morning saw the traditional Show and Shine at Ford Park where almost 500 cars wowed the huge crowds from 9am until midday.

Borderline Street Rodders President, Craig Nolan told the CV Independent said the record number of entrants made for another highly successful Yamba Rod Run.

“All up we had 511 entries, but not all of them went down to Ford Park,” he said.

“Our previous record was 480 something entrants.

“Everyone has said they had a really good time.”

When the NRMA purchased the Blue Dolphin resort there were fears the event may not go ahead, so not all entrants stayed in the park.

“We did have a lot of people who stayed off site this year,” Mr Nolan said.

“The park was booked out anyway, and it was full, so a lot of people rented houses around town and stayed at the other caravan park as well.

“A lot of regulars that used to stay at the Blue Dolphin stayed at other places, when we were up and down with what we were going to do they booked other places.”

Multiple business owners commented to the CV Independent about how the town was extremely busy last week.

Over the 32-year history of the Yamba Rod Run, Borderline Street Rodders have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for various charities.

“We have a lot of goods that are donated over the year, we buy stuff when we see it at the right price, and we hold auctions,” Mr Nolan said.

“We had a fridge donated this year that we sent to our major sponsor and he sign wrote the fridge, pinstriped it and painted it, it was a really old fridge that we auctioned off, and the money goes to charity.”

“We also had a signed poster or document from Moon Eyes in America’s head office that we auctioned off for the Meningococcal Foundation.

“The guy that was given it by the original owner of Moon Eyes, who is 102 years-old, and had signed it and written something on it, and the guy who was given it he passed away two years ago now, so his family donated it to us to auction off and the proceeds to go to the foundation.

“Our club matched what was raised at the auction and that will be donated to the Meningococcal Foundation.

“All of the kids do colouring in competitions and they get awards for that; we like to do different things to keep everyone busy.”

During last week, the Hot Rods cruised around the entire Lower Clarence, visiting a variety of locations, plus there were organised observation drives.

“On Thursday we went to Sanctus Brewery, which was an observation drive, and on Friday they did an observation drive around Yamba and Angourie, just because of the road works we couldn’t really venture too far,” Mr Nolan said.

“The observation run was all the different places to see, in and around Yamba and Angourie, people were provided notes on good places to stop and good places to eat, and they cruised around and stopped off where they wanted to.

“On Friday night we had a band before our auctions, the ‘Linelockers’ in the park.

“Saturday was mainly to Ford Park for the Show and Shine and Sunday morning was more presentations.”

The club also cooks and sells breakfast and dinner on certain days for people staying at the Blue Dolphin to contribute to their charity donations.

“People enjoy cruising the park, driving around and around while everyone sits on the side of the road and watches the cars go around…it’s a bit of a party atmosphere,” Mr Nolan said.

“The manager on duty for the weekend at the park was really happy and he was great to deal with.”

Borderline Street Rodders will be meeting with Blue Dolphin management in the coming weeks to discuss plans for the 2026 event.

“We are happy to come back, so long as they are happy to have us back,” Mr Nolan said.

Photos of a variety of cars in the Show and Shine will be posted on the Clarence Valley Independent website https://clarencevalleynews. com.au/.

This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 12 November 2025.