WILLIAMSBURG — Cars for Chris, a local car show that promotes safe driving and seatbelt safety for teens, is returning Saturday, June 25 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Williamsburg-Jamestown Airport.
The Car Show honors the memory of Christopher King, a recent Jamestown High School graduate who passed away in a car accident on July 4, 2020. The King family created the foundation to help promote safe driving for teens in the area.
Last year, the car show launched for the first time during the 2021 Fourth of July weekend. The event is organized in collaboration between the Christopher King Foundation and Drive Safe Hampton Roads.
“Last year we had our first event to raise money for Drive Safe Hampton Roads, which gives all the money to our local high schools for the Get It Together (GIT) seatbelt campaign,” said Christy King in an interview with WYDaily. “We raised $9,000 for Drive Safe Hampton Roads and out of that they wanted to make the Christopher King Foundation partner with them and that has been amazing. I was very touched.”
This event is free and open to the public, and it will feature many of the area’s top car clubs. There will be safety demonstrations, local food trucks, a 50/50 raffle, and airplanes.
The Christopher King Foundation has invited car enthusiasts and spectators alike to attend this weekend’s event. The car show competition will be held in an open-category format where anyone can drive in and compete for trophies. There is a cost to register a vehicle in the competition. Spectators are free to attend.
For those who are interested in competing, an online form is used to register a vehicle. All proceeds benefit Drive Safe Hampton Roads — Christopher King Foundation.
“We’re going to do a popular vote and some others that are judged,” said Christy King. “We also have James City County Police coming. They’ve been a great help. Officer Bowman, who is not there anymore, but he helped connect me to Drive Safe last year. Officer Frantz is coming with a big monster truck, and Drive Smart Virginia is coming. Everybody will have educational materials.”
Christy King says that at the end of the day the main goal of the event is to promote safe driving and to continue to help educate teens on topics such as seatbelt safety and drunk driving. This is the second year the event has been organized, and the plan is to keep it going for years to come.
In 2021, Christy was recognized for her efforts in helping to educate the youth on safe driving when she won the John T. Hanna Award for Occupant Protection.
According to Drive Safe Hampton Road’s website, Concerned Citizens Advocating Traffic Safety(CCATS) instituted the John T. Hanna Awards in 1991. Named after Virginia’s ‘Father of Transportation Safety,’ the awards honor those who Hanna’s tireless dedication and commitment to improving traffic safety on Virginia’s highways.
For more information on Drive Safe Hampton Roads, visit the organization’s official website.
Updates from the car show can be found on Christopher King Foundation’s Facebook page.
