The Globe and Mail
Pretty soon you’ll be able to call it a “lost art.” It was once a prerequisite for getting your driver’s license. It was the litmus test; it separated the wannabes from the real deals. If you couldn’t do it, you were a pretender. Mastering it, especially if you were on a hill with a stick shift car, was a point of pride. I’m referring, of course, to parallel parking.
Not anymore.
Technology is working hard to make parallel parking skills obsolete. Cars from the 2026 Lucid Air to the 2026 Ram 1500 now park themselves. Self-parking vehicles are trumpeted as a breakthrough. “If the idea of parking fills you with dread,” declares the U.S. News in its round up of the Best Self-Parking Cars in 2026, “You can make life a little easier the next time you shop for a new vehicle. Park-assist features abound in new cars, from simple sensors that let you know how much farther you can creep to systems that will just go ahead and park for you.”
And so, the march toward drivers becoming passive, talentless crash-test dummies, continues. At this rate, drivers will end up being little more than veal behind the wheel.
The surest sign of this decline is the appearance of parallel parking competitions in which drivers battle to prove their parallel parking prowess. You know something is becoming an antiquated art when it starts being recognized and rewarded with blue ribbons and medals. Think baking competitions, equestrian events and regattas.
Enter the first-ever Philadelphia Parallel Parking Championship, organized by the Philadelphia Parallel Parking Association (PPPA). Announced in mid-July, the PPPA Championship is set to take place on October 3 in the City of Brotherly Love. According to Philadelphia Magazine, organizers have so far received more than 800 applicants. The PPPA executive committee is going through applications and will whittle them down to a final field of 20 hopefuls.
“We’re rating [the applicants] based on their experience, their confidence and we’re also looking for diversity across the neighborhoods of the city,” PPPA executive director Adam Wodka told the magazine.
Once the 20 are selected and the parking begins, competitors will be judged in three categories: “one shot,” “tight squeeze” and “under duress.”
In the one-shot category, drivers parallel park in one move and then inch forward (as one should) to finish the park. Judges measure how close to the curb the vehicle is parked.
In “tight duress,” drivers must squeeze into a small spot. Judges base the size of the spot on the size of the car the driver is parking.
“Under duress” would be the most fun to watch. As they attempt to parallel park, drivers endure verbal abuse, honking horns and possessive citizens who are claiming savesies on a parking spot.
The top three competitors will move to the final round in which their parallel parking is judged according to flair, form and style. The winner will be crowned “2026 Philadelphia Parallel Parking Champion.” No cash. Maybe a trophy. Plenty of bragging rights.
“The PPPA is about more than just the competition,” Wodka, who drives a 2011 Toyota Prius, told the magazine. “It is about celebrating and promoting excellence in parallel parking. It’s very real to me. Living in South Philly, it’s something that is a very real part of our lives every day. The way that the PPPA views this is that all Philadelphians benefit by people in the city parking more efficiently so that we have more spots available on the streets for everybody and being good at parallel parking so that they do it quickly and the cars can move through on one-way streets, and everybody’s happier.”
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Philadelphia, where, 250 years ago, the Second Continental Congress met and adopted the Declaration of Independence, is helping lead the charge to celebrate parallel parking. Call it a New Age of Driving Enlightenment.
Philadelphia, however, isn’t alone. In July, Richmond, Va., was the site of the Richmond Parallel Parking Challenge which saw 40 drivers compete. WTVR reported that the rules were kept simple. “Hitting a curb, cone or another vehicle resulted in elimination.” The fastest parallel park was done in eight seconds. In March, 78 drivers in Austin, Texas, challenged themselves in a parallel parking competition. Pittsburgh has been holding the Pittsburgh Parallel Parking Championship since 2021.
It’s fashionable now to disparage all things American, but I think we Canadians can learn a thing or two from the folks in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and beyond. They are taking to the streets to honour and celebrate the dying art of parallel parking. Canadians should take note and follow suit.
Surely a “Toronto Parallel Parking Championship” or “Vancouver Parallel Parking Olympics” could one day become a reality?
If such an event were held in your city of town, would you participate?
- Yes
- No, but I’d watch.
Now repeat after me: “One turn to the left, two turns to the right, and then one final turn to the left…”