AHS auto shop students help with Kids’ Choice Award at Atascadero Lake Car Show
Samuel Salzman and Christian Beeman hand out ballots for car show’s Kids’ Choice Awards.
Photo by Natalie Hurd
The AHS Skills USA auto shop team assisted the Mid-State Cruizers at the 29th Annual Atascadero Lake Car Show on Aug. 18. The car show is one part of the two-day celebration for restored classic cars of all different shapes and sizes, and the Cruise Night showcased a mile-long parade of amazing cars. The car show offered raffles, concessions, and old classic automobiles to raise funds for the Mid-State Cruizers and for local charities. Four AHS auto team members, Samuel Salzman, Christian Beeman, Natalie Hurd and Casey Ley, managed the booth for the annual Kids’ Choice Awards.
The Kids’ Choice Awards was given based on how children voted for their favorite vehicles. The high school students tallied the ballots to determine the vehicle that kids chose as their favorite car to win the Kids’ Choice Awards trophy. This year there were 45 ballots distributed, which was about double the number of ballots in previous years. Three of those ballots were later chosen as recipients of prize baskets.
The AHS students had a lot of fun setting up and handing out the ballots for the Kids’ Choice Awards. Beeman said, “The experience at the Mid State Cruisers car show was amazing and full of great times and great staff.” The students distributed ballots from the morning until noon. “I was telling people that we were out of ballots,” Salzman said, referring to a big frenzy of parents and kids grabbing the last of the ballots for chances to win a prize. At the end of the Atascadero Lake Car Show, the Mid-State Cruizers held an awards ceremony for best-in-show vehicles and gave first and second place awards to each of the 21 categories of of cars, once of which was the Kids’ Choice Award.
The car show was eventful, with classical music and a variety of food stands. There were also some concessions stands run by the Charles Paddock Zoo, and the Mid-State Cruizers sold t-shirts and raffle tickets to raise funds for their organization. The raffles will also provide funding for local charities. Raffle prizes included baskets and entry into the big jackpot for 10%, 20%, and 30% of the raffle money. Visitors to the show seemed excited about looking forward to next year’s event as the Mid-State Cruizers organized a lively lake car show full of music, fun, and classic cars.