Every Summer on the third weekend of July, Snohomish celebrates their multi-cultural heritage with a local celebration called Kla Ha Ya Days. Statistically, it's the driest and warmest weekend of the month and frequently of the summer. A great time for a celebration and for a car lover's exhibition. The celebration has a storied history dating back decades but the car show is a relative newcomer only going back to the late 1990's where it started on First Street and spent the whole of the history until 2011 when the downtown businesses decided they didn't want the event closing their street on Sunday. In 2011 the show moved off the pavement onto the grass on the west side of Harvey Airfield; far away from shopping and services. A decision that was not universally embraced by either the car owners or their admirers.
In 2012 the Snohomish Kiwanis Club agreed to take over management of the Kla Ha Ya Days Car Extravaganza with the idea that the show would be back on the pavement. To our chagrin the downtown businesses in Snohomish reaffirmed that they didn't want the Kla Ha Ya Days Car Show on First Street.
If not on First Street and not on the grass, where? Snohomish Station and Fred Meyer came to our assistance and a new relationship was born. Our first show took place on July 22, 2012 with almost unanimous conditional approval. We clearly have issues to work out, but our first show was a well received effort we intend to build on.
The mission of Kiwanis is to raise money for children's charities around the world and for kids wherever we find them. If we can combine that mission with car owners, car enthusiasts and businesses willing to help sponsor our event, we can make this car show the success our community is known for.
We look forward to working with everyone to make this an event that closes down Kla Ha Ya Days with a bang.
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