The second annual Lewis County Autism Coalition Car and BMX Show — previously scheduled for Saturday, June 21 — has been postponed to Sunday, June 22, according to a Facebook post by the Cornerstone Center for Development in Centralia.
Cornerstone partnered with the Lewis County Autism Coalition for the inaugural show last year and is helping organize this year’s event.
“We changed the date for the Car/BMX show to this Sunday, June 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Museum due to the rain forecast for Saturday,” Cornerstone stated in the Facebook post. “See you all Sunday!”
The museum is located at 100 SW Veterans Way in Chehalis. The car and BMX show are free to attend. Additionally, the Operation Adoption event coinciding with the car and BMX show will be moved to Sunday.
Veterans Memorial Museum Executive Director Chip Duncan confirmed with The Chronicle Red Rose Animal Rescue will be at the car show for attendees to meet and spend time with.
This is the third Operation Pet Adoption event the museum has hosted. The adoption events were the brainchild of Kristi Popenoe, a peer counselor at Veterans Journey Forward, a nonprofit focused on helping veterans with counseling and navigating benefits that also operates out of the museum.
Popenoe held the first event last December with the intention to hold the event quarterly throughout the year. The second Operation Adoption event was held in February as previously reported by The Chronicle, and saw 11 dogs get adopted after nine animals were adopted during the first event.
The second annual Lewis County Autism Coalition Car and BMX Show will also feature food trucks, a mobile coffee stand, ice cream, live music and more. Trophies will be awarded for best in show and other categories.
The show also benefits the Lewis County Autism Coalition’s Spectrum and Development Community Center, which is currently under construction, according to the nonprofit’s website, with the goal of opening it in Napavine later this summer.
“The center is being designed as a hub of community resources, individual and family engagement, caregiver and provider education, health equity and maybe most importantly, empowerment,” the Lewis County Autism Coalition stated on its website.
This project is a collaboration between the Lewis County Autism Coalition and Lewis County Pediatrics and Family Medicine.
Once completed, it will house Lewis County Pediatrics and Family Medicine staff providing formal autism evaluations, along with therapy rooms for local licensed speech, occupational and behavioral therapists to rent, employment support services for those on the autism spectrum, a technology and art empowerment hub to help teach digital literacy and artistic skills and more.
Registration for the second annual Lewis County Autism Coalition Car and BMX Show is $20 per vehicle. To register or for more information, call 360-870-7912.
To learn more about the Lewis County Autism Coalition’s Spectrum and Development Community Center, visit https://www.lcautism.org/sdcc.
