OGDEN — Chances are good you might see a few exotic luxury Italian sports cars out on the roads around Ogden this week.
Chances are even better you’ll have a chance to get to see those exotic luxury Italian sports cars up close and in person.
This week, Ogden will be hosting the 2026 Alfa Romeo Owners Club (AROC) National Convention, the convention’s first stop in Ogden.
According to convention co-chair and founder of the AROC Bonneville chapter Mike Fine, the convention has typically been held in larger cities since AROC began holding annual meetings in the years after its inception in 1958.
“Every year we have a national convention, and they’re usually in very large cities across the country,” he said. “So last year was Chicago. We’ve done Denver-Colorado Springs area. We did Raleigh, San Diego. They just move around the country. … It changes every year, and that location is based upon having an active chapter that wants to do it.”
Fine said Alfa Romeo has been in and out of the U.S. market over the last four decades, having left it entirely in 1993 and only returning full-time in 2016, sporting dealerships in cities such as Las Vegas and Denver. He said that AROC has around 5,000 members at the moment and has more than 50 chapters across the country while around 300 attendees are expected at this week’s convention.
He also noted that, while Alfa Romeo may not be a household name in America when it comes to Italian cars, it has deep ties to a name that is a little more familiar with the general public.
“Enzo Ferrari, who everyone knows, spent his first 20 years of his career at Alfa Romeo,” Fine said. “That’s where he got his start. Enzo was a driver and then he became their head of racing. When he started Ferrari, he started just to race because Alfa was getting out of racing. Alfa made a deal with him that you can’t produce cars, but you can race and we’ll let you take over the race team, so he did. The Scuderia Ferrari logo was actually on Alfas before it was actually by his own (cars) when he went out on his own. Then Alfa returned to racing and with that agreement, they kind of nulled that whole thing of being able to not produce cars, so he started producing cars to be able to fund it and Alfa gave him the blessing. Even today, that relationship between those two companies is very strong.”
While the 2026 Alfa Romeo Owners Club National Convention will feature everything from regular convention activities such as seminars and banquets along with drives to Park City, Promontory Summit and other destinations, there is a unique addition versus most normal conventions — a public-facing event.
Enter the Concorso d’Eleganza, a car show and a staple of each AROC convention but one that has usually been reserved for the attendees themselves.
“When you go to them, it’s just the people,” Fine said. “It’s in a park with all the people bringing their Alfas and their family and friends who’ve come. They all look at it. It’s a casual thing where people sit around all day with it. I just feel like that’s just sad because these cars are beautiful and amazing. I’ve been a fan of them since I was eight years old. I feel like it’s wrong to not share the opportunity for people to see these cars and understand how beautiful Alfa Romeo is and what they create.”
But in Fine’s mission to reimagine this year’s national convention while sharing the love of these vehicles, that will not be the case in 2026.
The Concorso d’Eleganza will be held in Huntsville City Park in Huntsville on Saturday, Sept. 26, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. and will be free to the public.
According to a press release on the convention and the Concorso, the show will feature several historic vehicles.
“Among the automobiles expected in Utah is a 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C2300 Touring Spider, powered by a supercharged 2.3-liter straight-eight engine and capable of speeds above 100 mph,” the release said. “The model became one of Alfa Romeo’s legendary competition cars, with 8C2300s winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans four consecutive times during the 1930s. The example coming to Utah was once owned by Andrea Mario Piaggio and spent decades associated with an automobile museum in Turin before its original chassis and body were reunited and restored.
“Certified national judges at the Concorso will evaluate eligible historic cars for authenticity, mechanical correctness and preservation, while modern Alfa Romeos will also be displayed and compete for a People’s Choice award. The public event will include food trucks, vendors and a swap meet.”
Fine said this is the first time to his knowledge that the Concorso d’Eleganza has been made into a public event, but it was important to him to do it this time around.
“First, it’s like if we’re all coming together and driving across the country to show off our cars, why wouldn’t we want to show them off to as many people as possible?” he said. “The second thing is that we’ve done the Festa (Italiana SLC) every year for the last five years. We’ve always been a participant. People are nuts about the cars. … And I think the last thing that inspired me was all these people are coming great distances to show these cars off. And while having a large number of people in a park, walking around and seeing them, nothing gives a person pride more than having someone look at their car and go, ‘Wow, this is beautiful,’ and be able to talk about it. They’re putting their money and time into this and they’re traveling this distance, so to me, it was like, this is a reward for coming for this event. It’s a reward for our membership to be able to have this kind of experience.”
For more information on the 2026 Alfa Romeo Owners Club National Convention and the Concorso d’Eleganza, go to arocogden2026.com.