Wednesday, August 19, 2026
By Maggie Miles | Outer Banks Voice on July 9, 2026
Every year since 2019, car enthusiasts from across the country make their way to the Outer Banks for the OBX Rod & Customs Festival to show off their hot rods and experience the sights of the Outer Banks.
This year, the event, which was held May 1-2 at the Soundside Event Site in Nags Head, brought in 1,243 cars, mostly classic restorations, resto‑mods and race-style builds, from 27 states—with one participant coming from Australia to show off his car. Entry is free to the public, which has the opportunity to come to the Event Site and check out the cars and chat with the participants.
“It’s like Hot Wheels on steroids,” said Richard Quidley, explaining that for these car enthusiasts, it’s not just about showing off their car, but also appreciating the mechanical artistry of their fellow participants “It’s very much translating their thoughts into metal to share these different cars,” he said.
But the car show isn’t just about cars. The festival is a non-profit charity event dedicated to donating 100% of their proceeds each year to local charities. Since its inception, the event has funneled just over $314,000 to local organizations like Children & Youth Partnership for Dare County, Dare County Food for Thought Program, Hatteras United Methodist Church Toy Drive, Roanoke Island Food Pantry, and multiple scholarship funds through their charity organization, Garage Band Charities, Inc.
This year, Garage Band Charities presented their donations at the June 9 Dare County Board of Commissioners meeting, which included a $30,000 check for the Children & Youth Partnership for Dare County.
The festival raises funds through registration fees ($50 per car), sponsor contributions, vendor fees, and business partnerships, with the sponsor/vendor income paying operations costs so that participant registration can go straight to charities.
The impetus for the festival came from Michael Tillett, son of the late Dare Commissioner and community leader Virginia Tillett, who had been making his rounds in the car show circuit showing his OBX SS Monte Carlo. He called Quidley, who owned American Classic Garage (ACG) and had experience organizing the Harley-Davidson bike week events and other charity motorsports events. Tillett explained to Quidley that after six years traveling to car shows around the East Coast, it was time to show the car world their home.
“He said ‘I kind of want to do something like Bike Week, but with cars,’ so we put our heads together,” recalled Quidley.
They recruited Sara Hole, who was working for Quidley at ACG, to come in as the third partner. The three of them decided they would donate all the event proceeds to charity, and together formed Garage Band Charities, Inc.
“This was our big shot to put the Outer Banks on the map with the custom car community,” explained Hole, who handles the registrations and sponsorships and worked with the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau to lease The Soundside Event site. “We are just a few locals with a passion for the community.”
While Hole handles the clerical/administrative tasks, Tillett serves as the event’s chief promoter and “mouthpiece,” and Quidley handles operations, sponsorships, and event layout.
“The three of us each have our own strengths, and we lean on each other a lot,” said Quidley, noting the contributions of a group of dedicated volunteers who help out each year.
That first event in 2019 brought in 300 cars and raised $15,000. That number has gradually increased each year, with this year’s event raising $66,000 so far, with many sponsors waiting until the end of summer to make their donations. The following year, they were able to survive Covid-19 by decentralizing the event—spreading the show across more than a dozen locations so cars could still gather/cruise without creating a single large crowd. The event featured 400 cars and raised $22,000 for charity.
According to Quidley, a car show on the Outer Banks offers something different for participants, like the scenery and room to ride and cruise. “A lot of the bigger cities that host or have events similar to ours [but] it’s inside a city and you can’t go out and drive your car,” said Quidley.
This year, the organizers received a surprise when the Town of Nags Head informed them that their permit application for the 2026 event had been denied, giving the organizers seven days to appeal.
“It really caught us off guard. There had been no discussion with us that there was a problem, or that we might need to come in and talk about things,” said Quidley. In further discussions, the Town cited community off-site impacts like noise/behavior after hours and burnouts on public streets, rather than problems at the event site itself.
Garage Band Charities, Inc. filed an appeal and appeared before the Nags Head Board of Commissioners on March 4, with many members of the community in attendance to rally their support.
Representatives from The Outer Banks Visitor’s Bureau and the Hotel/Motel association made presentations in support of the festival, citing the millions of dollars it brings in during the shoulder season. The organizers pointed to the charitable contributions, and committed to increasing public-service announcements and reminders to participants about noise, curfew and behavior, while noting that there had never been police, fire, or medical events during past festivals.
The appeal was successful and the organizers were granted a conditional permit for the 2026 festival. The conditions were to increase public service announcements; a 9:00 p.m. noise curfew, payment for police overtime for off-site patrols of up to $4,000, and a commitment to post-event debrief meetings with the Town.
According to Quidley the Town didn’t report any problems during their event this year and the organizers are currently waiting on approval for their 2027 event permit application, which is scheduled for April 30-May1.
For more information visit Garage Band Charities.
Comments
Jay
Nags head why approve a sound side event center only to later down the road deny or be picky about having small events there. It’s awful dumb.
Kathy Sparrow Martin
I worked with Michael Tillett over the first few years of the event in support of a local business. What a pleasure to work with, and how wonderful that his organization has done so much for the community his family has long served. Congratulations!