Record crowd of 4,500 packs Goshen car show and food festival

More than 4,500 people packed Goshen Historic Track on May 19 for the ninth annual Orange County Volunteer Police car show and food truck festival, turning the historic oval into the busiest edition yet. More than 300 vehicles entered the show, another record, as families, car fans and local supporters took advantage of warm, sunny spring weather in Goshen.

The turnout mattered because it gave the volunteer police group something bigger than a one-day crowd. The event put the Orange County Volunteer Police in front of thousands of residents in a setting built around public visibility, neighborhood contact and a low-pressure introduction to law enforcement outside of an emergency call or traffic stop. In a county where public-safety groups often meet people only in tense moments, a festival like this creates a more accessible face for the organization.

Goshen Historic Track gave the event a setting with its own weight. The venue describes itself as the world’s oldest active harness racing track, and its history page says it was the first half-mile track to host a sub-two-minute mile and the first half-mile track in New York State to join the Grand Circuit in 1911. The track’s events calendar also shows how the property now functions as a year-round community space, hosting races, concerts, weddings, fundraisers and other local gatherings in addition to the car show.

This year’s crowd topped the roughly 3,600 people who came in 2024, when the track thanked visitors for making the event a huge success. That edition featured 16 food trucks and support from Hudson Valley Honor Flight, the New York State Troopers, the Orange County Department of Corrections, Nam Knights of Orange County and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. An earlier reported edition drew more than 4,000 car enthusiasts and included 220 vintage autos and 17 food and dessert trucks, showing the event had already been building toward this year’s record.

For Goshen, the numbers point to more than nostalgia for classic cars. They show that a local event tied to a familiar public-safety name can still command major attention in Orange County when it offers families a clear reason to come out, spend time on the track grounds and make the volunteer police organization part of a crowded, recognizable community weekend.