Car enthusiasts are surrounded by an assortment of vehicles as they wander through downtown Centralia during the annual Hub City Car Show in August 2011.
Alice Coakley and her grandsons Orion Schroeder, 5, Centralia, center, and North Schroeder, 3, Centralia, right, admire several of the polished classic cars on display at the annual Hub City Car Show in Centralia in August 2011.
Tower Avenue in downtown Centralia will transform on Saturday into one of the largest gatherings of classic cars in the region during the annual Hub City Car Show.
More than 300 cars, of any make, model or year, are scheduled to line downtown from the Fox Theatre to City Hall. Classic car owners come from all over the area, including Portland, Port Angles and Yakima, to take part in the car show.
The Hub City Car Show, planned from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, is organized by the Lewis County Quarter Milers car club and the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce.
Mike Geiger, the Lewis County Quarter Milers president, said the group previously hosted the car show at the Lewis County Mall but decided to bring the event downtown a decade ago.
“It’s in downtown. A lot of times you go to a car show in a city park or school grounds and there is nothing for anyone to do,” Geiger said. “The kids don’t want to sit around and stare at dad’s truck all day.”
Having the car show downtown boosts business for the local shops and ‘restaurants, Geiger said.
“We were sitting around and said, ‘Let’s try a big car show downtown,” Geiger said. “We had to convince some people to shut the town down for a day.”
The first year the car show was along Tower Avenue about 150 cars came out for the day. Last year, the car show had it’s biggest year with 308 cars, Geiger said.
In the 10 years the car show has been downtown, Geiger said, he’s received just one complaint from an antique store owner.
“She said, ‘I never had that many people in my store at one time,’” Geiger said. “She just needed to have more people working.”
The car show will kick off on Friday night with a barbecue at Ken’s Service at 515 W. Main St., Centralia.
Sponsors of the car show will hand out 35 different awards to car owners at the show. For passersby, a raffle will be held and T-shirts will be on sale.
All the money raised by the Lewis County Quarter Milers at the car show is donated to charity, Geiger said.
The group finds a family in need around Christmas and buys them groceries and a Christmas tree. The remaining funds go toward a scholarship to a local high school.
Last year, the Quarter Milers raised $2,400.
The Quarter Milers meet at 7 p.m. on the first Monday of the month at the Elks Lodge in Centralia or a local restaurant of the members’ choice.
Geiger said the Hub City Car Show is the groups largest event of the year.
“We can’t get too much bigger because we can’t close any more streets,” Geiger said.
