Concours: President Lindsey Harrell steps down

A new face behind the wheel

Like peas and carrots, the Hilton Head Concours d’Elegance and Motoring Festival and Lindsey Harrell have gone together nearly since the beginning. Harrell has had a hand in staging the area’s rolling art show since 2005, just a few years after the event began. 

“I started as an employee in 2007. I’ve been there for nearly half of my life,” said Harrell, 41, who became only the show’s second president in 2019, taking the reins from Carolyn Meister, formerly Vanagel.

This will be Harrell’s last year as president. She took a job — also in event planning — closer to her home in the Chicago area. It wasn’t an easy choice.

“You’re not leaving a job, you’re leaving a family,” she said of Concours. But upon reflection, she realized that “family doesn’t disappear just because one thing changes.”

She also realizes that growth comes from change, and that goes for both her and the show.

“I realized I had to challenge myself if I wanted to grow as a person and professionally. I think the same goes for Concours. How can it change and grow under the same leadership?”

While she’d like to help choose her successor, she knows it’s a great opportunity for the event to evolve even more. Given how far it’s come — from humble beginnings as a fundraiser for a local nonprofit to a nationally renowned showcase — one can only imagine where it can go from here.

Not to worry, though. She’ll be there in November to drink in the festival one more time. Consider it her victory lap. She earned it.