Conversations with Caden Ellerington

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Caden Ellerington.

Hi Caden, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We are the CU Car Club, a car club for college students, by college students. (Not directly affiliated with CU Boulder) Evan Ward handles our Social Media, Isaac Epp handles relations/event planning, and Caden Ellerington is the president or head of the club. People in the profile pic: (Evan Ward: in a red shirt, Caden Ellerington: sitting in the middle, and Isaac Epp in a brown Jacket).

Our story starts right after my senior graduation. I was born and raised in Louisville, Colorado, and CU was the perfect school for what I wanted. I started at CU the following semester, and a friend who was also going to CU reached out to me about a car meet in Boulder. Cars have always been a huge part of my life and my family, so finding out there was a car club at CU was super exciting, and hoped this would be a good avenue to be a part of something.

Right off the bat, I was hooked by all the nice and friendly people from my first day. I knew this was something I wanted to be a part of. Over the next couple of months, I made it a point to attend every event the club was hosting. Emalee and Kalen started and ran the club over the last couple of years, and they graduated in the spring of ‘23.

I still vividly remember both of them coming up to me after a car meet in October, both asking me if I would want to run the car club after they graduated. I can’t tell you how excited I was for this opportunity. They picked me, the young new freshman who had only been attending for a couple of months. Running a car club was always a childhood dream of mine. If you guys are reading this (Kalen and Emalee), I hope you know how much this has meant to me.

From there, our team was built to run the club. Once he graduated high school a year after me, I asked one of my best friends, Isaac, to help run the club. From day one, Isaac has killed it with relations and helping create a community in our club. After a semester, we both decided the club was too big for just the two of us, and we needed someone who could handle our media.

At that same time, our friend Evan reached out about wanting to get more involved with the club. He offered up his social media management and photography skills to help us grow. This was an opportunity falling right into our lap. Since then, our club has reached more CU students than ever, and our reach has never been better. We average 50-100 cars per meet almost every week. This club would not exist without the 3 of us.

Our mission at its heart is really simple: to create a space and community for people who enjoy cars to hang out, have fun, feel welcome, and make friends. During my freshman year, this club was the only place I made real friends and connections. It was such a welcoming community of genuine people, and I want to continue that and make it a fun and inviting space for car enthusiasts to come. As far as activities go, we try to do a little of everything. Almost every week, we host night meetings on Thursdays or Fridays.

These are more of the typical “car meet” style, just a group of friends gathering to talk about a common interest. On the weekends in the warmer months, we host car cruises to drive fun roads and see the beautiful mountains. Usually, we plan a lunch or dinner with these. We also do track days at various raceways like Pikes Peak International Raceway and Bandimere Speedway. We also host BBQs either on Mt. Flagstaff or at one of our houses.

We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
With everything, there are always ups and downs, and our club is no exception. It only takes one person to ruin the event for everyone. Luckily, this hasn’t happened very often, thanks to the rules and guidelines we have created for the club. Our biggest struggle has been finding places to meet.

Accent Church and Weather Tech have been extremely kind in continuing to let us use their property to host meets over the years. We have also fostered a great relationship with both Boulder PD and CU PD, as well as security at NCAR Laboratory. We publicly post the majority of our events to reach as many people as possible, as we do not want to create a private or exclusive community but one that anyone can feel comfortable attending.

However, this does come with drawbacks because it only takes one person being obnoxious or breaking the law to get us kicked out of a spot. As I said, this rarely happens, and our 50 or so regulars have never caused a problem.

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I think I am most proud of our club is the community it has created. From what Kalen and Emalee started to what Evan, Isaac, and I have continued, our goal is to create a space for people to come to hang out and do things with cars. This isn’t some super official and private car club; it is an event where everyone can go and get to know people who share the same passion.

The best part of doing this is getting to meet someone who has never come to a meet and watch them gradually get more involved. I have made some great friends this way.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Instagram has been a huge resource for reaching out to college students in the area. Posting 3 times a week and promoting each weekly meeting has contributed greatly to the growth of the club. As far as resources for managing the club, we run primarily off of spreadsheets.

The 3 of us work very hard to treat it on paper as if it were a real business, planning out events months in advance, keeping track of our merchandise like stickers and sweatshirts, and seeing what works and what doesn’t. We are constantly experimenting with new ideas to host higher quality and more engaging events.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @cucarclub
• Facebook: @cucarclub

Image Credits
Evan Ward (@evanmward_)