Basin Summer Showdown coming next Saturday

EPHRATA — The Basin Summer Showdown car show will take to the streets in Ephrata again Saturday, July 27.

“I’m hopefully going to be over 150 (entrants) again,” said organizer Ricardo Gutierrez. “Last year I had 150 show up, which was almost double what I had the year before.”

There are 20 vendors lined up as well, Gutierrez said, compared to last year’s nine.

This is the show’s third year, Gutierrez said. The first year he held it at the Grant County Fairgrounds, but last year it moved to the streets in front of the Grant County Courthouse.

Advance registration is $20 and can be found at bit.ly/3Y9eWAL. Registration the day of the show is $30.

Several local car clubs are planning to make appearances, Gutierrez said, but there are people coming from as far away as Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia. He put an ad on social media and it spread far and wide, he said.

“Oh my gosh, my reach has just been crazy,” he said. “I posted it to hit up Washington, Oregon and Idaho, and it’s hit over 7,000 people already and it shows like 500 people interested. So I’m hoping for a big turnout.”

There will be raffle drawings as well, Gutierrez said, with prizes donated by local businesses like Dave the Tire Guy and Bill the Buff Man in Ephrata, as well as Griot’s Garage in Tacoma and auto parts retailer Summit Racing Equipment. Porky’s Hot Dogs, Blacky’s Smokin’ Sweet barbecue and Taqueria Mazatlan will keep both exhibitors and viewers fed. Gutierrez, who also owns Open Iris Visuals,  will be taking photos of vehicles at the event, which he shares for free with the vehicles’ owners.

“It's all about bringing all the locals together and people from out of town,” Gutierrez said. “It’s pretty awesome seeing all the different people traveling just to come out here for our show.”

Joel Martin may be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.