Even by art car standards this has been a strange year. The world of art cars has lost some valued friends and participators, and on a brighter note we have seen the return of the art car festival in Minneapolis (against all the odds, in a year which has seen financial constraints put the bite on a lot of other sectors) and the introduction of a festival in London as well as the recent announcement of an art car event in Edinburgh (with the blessing and encouragement of the city authorities). While lamenting the loss of some good people, the art car-minded among us can at least look toward 2010 with some optimism.

The continued presence of Art Car Fest in the calendars is as good a reason as any to be cheerful. You get the feeling it’s going to take more than a couple of recessions to knock this one off it’s stride, and the final weekend in September will be time again for the California Art Car movement to show us all how it is done. We’ll have more about it after the event, but to find out direct from the people involved about what’s going on, check out their Facebook community at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21581364123.