Southrnfresh is an Atlanta staple at this point. Matter of fact: Joseph Dale should probably go make a Southrnfresh drive-in diner… cause I feel like the whole Atlanta car community would support it. Anyway – Southrnfresh started in 2010. In hindsight, that was a pretty authentic micro-era for car culture. The 2008 recession had shaken things up…
1) It had (quite suddenly) taken out some of the major players in the car scene… like NOPI Nationals for example. 2) The bigger tuner magazines were all-the-sudden struggling for advertiser support, since all the aftermarket companies were clutching their wallets in fear. 3) Gas prices went mad. And for the first time in our life, the tuner generation had to sweat gas prices & shortages. 4) As a result, stance & fitment builds came on strong since it didn’t kill MPGs. 5) And supercharging the stance trend, was the surge of social media… which was hugely photo-driven. Stanced cars look great in photos, so they stole the newsfeed. 6) The drift craze had already hit America. And 7) The 2nd-wind of the Honda scene was in full effect. Put it all together, and in short, authenticity bloomed out of chaos. The enthusiasts took the reins of the culture. And a lot of things went grassroots, independent, & viral.
Southrnfresh came out of this era…
Originally a typo in the domain name, “Southern Fresh” became Southrnfresh, an online source for car culture, similar to the likes of Canibeat, Stanceworks, Fatlace, etc. And… Southrnfresh car shows were a natural addition/evolution. Through the years, Southrnfresh earned the loyalty of the people. This new late-August/early-September event in Newnan GA was a first-year-event, and it randomly brought out a lot of the golden-era Honda AND a slew of Skylines. Southrnfresh is going to continue to grow this one, and likely follow the momentum… highlighting specific subcultures & groups each year.
Photos by Ben Battles
