My wife an I organized the very first show and shine in our small town of 10,000 people, last July. We ended up getting a ton of support from local businesses with prizes and even free air time on the radio. OUr had a $10 registration fee but that also got every entrant a proffesional 5x7 digital photo of their ride. In the end we finished the day with 48 entries!! Thats a lot considering it was our very first year and our registration sheet only had 16 people on it the day before the event. This year we have eliminated the registration for the event but asked people to please pre register if they would like a spot, just so we know how much room we need. This summer , after the car show, we are workign with local restaurants to get a cruise night going on with different places sponsoring each weekly event. I wish I had the pictures of our first show to show you guys, but my computer ended up with a virus and I lost everything.
Good luck with your show, it's a great experience!!