The Past:
Although the Arizona License Plate Society has only been around since 2004, it’s origins go back to the 1960’s and the passion for license plates in Arizona go back much further than that. Various independent license plate regional meets have existed in Arizona for over 40 years. The first official “club” organized to hold these meets was Roy Carson’s first incarnation of the Arizona License Plate Society formed in 1971. In 1973, ALPS joined ALPCA as a regional chapter – but this ALPS club wasn’t just Arizona – it included Nevada and New Mexico as well as these states didn’t have their own regions. Nevada formed its own region in 1981. In the 80’s, the Arizona group existed mostly again as a series of independent meets, but these meets were spread out and inconsistent in frequency.

It wasn’t until 1991 when a young member named Garie Chavez was inspired by Roy Carson to once again organize a region for Arizona. The result was the ALPCA Grand Canyon Region. This group existed until 1994 when it left ALPCA to join Roy Carson’s new “NILPS” club built out of the existing Nevada region. NILPS and the newly-named Arizona club “NILPS Grand Canyon Regional” had a great relationship during the rest of the 1990’s and even early into the 2000’s. As time moved on and NILPS’ fortunes began to fade while Arizona’s star continued to rise, the Arizona region found itself coming full circle – it once again became an ALPCA region in 2004 and was again known as the “Arizona License Plate Society.” The club known today as ALPS continues to lead the hobby in the 21st century as a beacon for what regional chapters can become with love and hard work, but also salutes a long proud history spanning over 40 years.

The Future:
You can be part of the ALPS legacy by joining us and attending our meets! ALPS currently hosts a hobby-leading six (6) meets per year, and averages between 350-400 attendees per year to these six events. ALPS attendance represents about 1/6 (or 17%) of total ALPCA regional meet attendance for the entire club, even though Arizona ALPCA members only represent slightly more than 3% of the total ALPCA roster.

All ALPCA members are welcome to attend ALPS meets! If you are not an ALPCA member but are interested in learning more, please check out ALPCA’s website at www.alpca.org, or contact us about attending an ALPS meet as a prospective member. If you enjoy license plate collecting, We think you’ll agree that this is for you!

TWO CLUBS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!

The Arizona License Plate Society exists as one of about twenty regional chapters of the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association (ALPCA). When you join ALPCA, look at what all you get:

• Six issues per year of PLATES Magazine, a full-color publication all about license plates.
• Access to the on-line archives, with reference to the hobby’s collective knowledge. Research the plates in your collection and identify even the most “tough to identify” plates.
• Access to the roster so you can find other collectors in your area
• Access to regional meet announcements for all ALPCA regions.
• Ability to attend the ALPCA 4-day national convention held each summer.