Glitz, glamor and speed.
The poster for this year’s Old Town Festival of Speed & Style was unveiled at the Principle Gallery on Wednesday (March 20). This year’s theme is Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel “Casino Royale,” and the poster by Tom Kuster shows people in and around a red Lamborghini at the Alexandria waterfront.
Kuster has created the posters for the last six annual exotic car shows in Old Town. He draws them in pencil and pen and colors them with magic markers.
“It’s a very fragile medium,” Kuster told ALXnow. “The markers fade terribly, and they don’t take daylight or sunlight at all. You know, in a year’s time, they look awful because certain colors fade.”
More than 40,000 people are expected to attend the sixth-annual festival on Sunday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event features more than 100 exotic sports cars and motorcycles and is sponsored by Burke & Herbert Bank and several local businesses.
There is also a Casino Royale-themed charity event the night before the festival.
The High-Octane Ball will be held May 17 (Saturday) at Alexandria Land Rover (5900 McGuin Drive) in the city’s Carlyle neighborhood. Tickets for that event run $250 per person and $2,500 for a table.
Like a classic car, the event’s stature has grown over the years.
“We’re known as a signature event in Alexandria,” said festival founder Rick Myllenbeck. “We are the largest single-day event in Alexandria, one of the largest car shows on the East Coast, and also a premier auto event.”
