Calicreaming 2025 - fresno fairgrounds

Author/Photographer: Kai Her - April 15th, 2025

It feels a bit strange coming back onto the site to blog instead of design for a change. Lately, I’ve been so busy designing things behind the scenes and as my vision is coming into a slow and steady fruition; I guess it’s finally safe to say that I can get back on schedule to just writing. I’ve been collecting a bunch of photos, but just haven’t got the chance to edit and post them for the community and readers to see on the site.

I’ve been yearning to write for quite some time now and I have to say, it’s quite relaxing to just get away from everything else from the world and just write about cars and sh!t. I realized that as I grow older year by year, I’m presented with more responsibilities to take care of. Especially, being a new father and all. I’m still learning the ropes and trying to figure all this stuff out. You learn as you grow and I am really doing all that I can to be there for my 7 month old and my wife. I only hope that I can still set time aside and come back on here to write whenever I want to. Now, I feel that blogging seems more of a task I have added into my life timeline, rather than it just being a hobby I deeply enjoy. I think it’s time to shift that perspective.

Regardless of what it is, I am committed to build this site to its fullest potential and for this year, I have many things set in place to evolve the site even more than how it is currently.

Before I dive right into the coverage, I would just like to show my appreciation and acknowledge the efforts, kindness, or presence of others that have landed on my site. Whether it be by chance or it was intentional, I know it gets repetitive reading the same sh!t again. Your simple comments (via social media) letting me know I’m getting somewhere with this means much to me; I would like to express much gratitude and simply say "thank you.” Your appreciation strengthens and boosts my writing morale. In result, I can continue creating an online car culture of positivity and respect (in my own way). In both my personal life or it being in a professional setting, your little recognition made a big difference and is my medicine to remedy myself back into writing.

Car show season finally made its route back to central California and NnovatioN couldn’t be more than grateful to be invited by Sean and his Calicreaming team to come out to one of their biggest car show they have set up. Carefully staging and placing vehicles into various main halls inside the Fresno fairgrounds, and then strategically staging the outdoor cars throughout the whole venue seemed to require a lot of energy. I don’t know how they were able to pull it off no being a big team, but they managed it well with great humility and humbleness.

When I have been contacted via Instagram about gathering the NnovatioN brothers to attend the show, Sean and the Calicreaming team was extremely kind in providing a space specifically for us. Furthermore, they were able to accommodate our needs to get into the show quickly and easily whilst avoiding a long line to the entrance.

As NnovatioN was invited to park into the main hall and was to stage the night before the show, it was a pleasant and satisfying to be in the midst of cars again. Aside from being surrounded by cars, like I have always mentioned, the next best thing parallel to being around cars is the company that comes with it. I immensely enjoy the company of others much more than the cars. This car show was a valuable one for me because it was the first car show I took my daughter to. Aside from the music being a bit too loud within the main hall we were in, Gwyn handled the whole scene quite well, just like his father.

(My S2000 rocking the OG Regamaster MP’s. It was only right to kick off this year’s car show season with my favorite set of wheels.)

One of the pros of being able to park a day early at the show is already knowing you don’t have to have a rushed morning to get to your staging time with punctuality. The Calicreaming shows catered to a lot of different kind of builds, the majority being stance builds. The scene and vibe was a bit different from my usual JDM executed builds, but the amount of people that spectated the show was phenomenal!

Nothing have been altered much on the S2000 either than switching up the wheel set up like how NnovatioN usually engages in when we attend a show to the next. Our motto? It’s: new show or reattending a show means switching wheels.

(Jackson’s AWD Civic still rocking the Mode Parfume front end with many JDM goodies spotted throughout the 3 door vehicle.)

Just love how aggressive the Civic currently is. The Magnesium Blue Te37’s pairing up with the color was pure execution. The front carbon splitter matches up with the huge J’s Racing gt wing on the top rear end of the Civic.

This Datsun was presented at last year’s SEMA show (from what I recall). Parked at the Calicraeming booth in Vegas, the Datsun wore a widebody kit (TrackForMe) in which I have heard was one of a kind that was designed by its owner? Though I could be wrong since I’m not so well versed in the Nissan scene, the owner definitely knows how to execute it! I’m sure a lot of time and thought was put into the whole idea of the build! I’m actually quite glad to see the car in person. It definitely deserves immense appreciation.

I’m not a big Nissan fan (to be honest), but this is probably one of my favorite Nissan build right now. The kit still stayed true to its OEM bodylines and the owner definitely nailed it with covering the car with just a nice bright red color. No sparkles or glitter on the paint; just a nice and clean finish!

The widened Datsun seems to be running some rebarreled Work Equips? To obtain the meaty and flush fitment, the wide body kit rested right on top of the wheel wall.

I remember seeing a video from Sean’s Instagram profile that he had recently purchased a Porsche 911 GT3. Seemed like a flare has been added to the front fenders to meet up with the lines of the front spoiler. A car I would love to own one day, but could probably never afford.

Once the main hall seemed to be less busy, I walked over to David’s S14 to snap a quick photo of it. A fellow Wekfest award winner a few years back for “S-Chassis of the Fest.”

It was a delightful moment to share some words with David and catch up with him during staging night. We talked a little bit about Wekfest, family, and the anticipation of the show. Glad to know he’s doing a lot better health wise. One of the best parts about car shows is moments like this. Connections are rekindled and relationships continue to soar!

Something to be reminded of in NnovatioN is just knowing you won’t be able to get away with every little new part you have purchased and added. Let’s take Xue’s PY ITR for example. The UKDM front fog lights have been installed onto the front bumper, the valve cover has been changed to match up with the various Cusco strut bars on both the front and rear strut towers.

Tilong a good friend of ours, took out his AWD EG to the show with us. The EG is forced induced on a LS Vtec setup! The EG was rolling on some Ray’s Volk Te37’s with various JDM parts seen throughout the chassis. The easily and most identifiable part would have to be the Mode Parfume front spoiler accompanied with the carbon fiber front splitter.

You can’t probably see the wing from this angle, but Tilong also continued the Mode Parfume theme to the rear by adding in the Mode Parfume rear spoiler on the hatch.

Making my rounds back to the NnovatioN line up, I was finally able to get enough space to capture a photo of Kong’s NSX. Something to take notice of than the new Te37’s (refinished in Championship White) was what’s inside the car. The yellow alcantara ICB bucket seats have been switched out to some Mugen bucket seats.

Sua already caught onto the NnovatioN bug before being a part of the brotherhood. Continuing to possess that perspective, his newest addition to the build is the carbon fiber front spoiler and the Nardo Gray Te37’s.

I guess the next question to ask Sua is who inspired him to finalize his decision to run Nardo Gray Te37’s? LOL! Well, whoever whom that might be, the color combo on his DB1 popped!

A huge “Thank you” to Rich (Simon’s little brother) for staging Simon’s EM1 the night before the show. Simon is now rolling on some Ce28’s in which he recently refinished it in Magnesium Blue. It was quite hard to capture the color of the wheels inside the main hall, but it was nice to finally see the wheels in person.

To finish off the NnovatioN line up at the show, Mee’s EG was parked across from Simon’s EM1. Car still looks very clean, like usual. Let’s see which front spoiler Mee will be running to the next big show!

Just right outside the main hall was this GR86 owned by a member of the Jade’s Motorsport Team (from Socal, I assume). The vehicle is fashioned with a Varis wide body kit.

The vehicle was equipped with a set of RAYS Volk 21C’s. Right behind the wheel was a Project Mu big brake kit. Diligently chosen to match up with the Neptune Blue finish on the car.

(The shock absorber reservoirs were attach to the titanium Carbing strut tower brace.)

That wraps up this coverage, everyone!

It’s definitely a bit more challenging to capture content from builds outside the import/JDM scene, that I’m regularly used to. As I mentioned earlier, Calicreaming’s show mainly caters to the “stance” community, which honestly, I thought was pretty awesome. It was cool seeing two different corners of the car world come together to create something an unexpectedly, nonjudgmental, and peaceful event. Since stance isn’t really a build style I’m super familiar with, I wasn’t always sure what I was looking at compared to what I’m used to—but that’s part of the fun, right? You learn as you go.

Some highlights from the day included:

Catching up with Ross from Spocom and chatting about their upcoming big show in Anaheim (June 2025), indulging my palate in some spicy, cheesy mac ‘n cheese, spending quality time with my family, AND taking home the “Best Honda - 1st Place” award! Our team, NnovatioN, also racked up a bunch of wins in our category, but the most valuable one was definitely “Best Crew.” It’s so rewarding to see our hard work paying off. You really do reap what you sow.

Thanks for taking the time to check out this short coverage. Stay tuned! Weenie Fest 2025 coverage is dropping next week!

(A Voltex steering wheel was easily seen inside the car and escorted by many carbon fiber pieces throughout the dash. Bride seats and the red stitched theme was very well demonstrated throughout the cockpit.)