BOUNTIFUL—The celebration is back for its 24th year anniversary, and our community’s children will be the biggest benefactors.

The Bountiful Rotary Club’s Coats for Kids Car Show & Cruisin’ has two days of wonderful activities planned, starting on Friday, August 20 and continuing on Saturday, August 21. From a parade to a smokin’ tire burnout to a picnic and car show in the park, this Rotary Club event raises thousands of dollars each year for purchasing coats, mittens and boots for needy children, and it’s always a huge success.

“As a Rotary Club, we’re very involved in community service, in giving back,” said longtime Rotarian and the main organizer of this show Chris Simonsen. “In 1998 during a weekly luncheon, club president Lonnie Hunter said he was proud of the service our club had done in the past, but we wanted to do something with a bigger focus and something local. We wanted to do something specifically for Bountiful.”

It didn’t take long after club members reached out to teachers and school administrators to find that there was a need for warm winter clothing for children whose families were in low income homes or whose parents were out of work. And the Bountiful Rotary Club had their mission.

That first year, the club got a Children’s Opportunity Grant from the Rotary International Foundation for $15,500, enough to cover about 200 kids with coats, mittens and boots. But that was a one-time grant, and at about the same time, Simonsen said he acquired the car of his youth, a 1956 Thunderbird. He knew others in the club also collected vintage cars, and so the idea of a Car Show as a fundraising project quickly came to mind. 

“We knew that if we offered food for those who attended, we could raise some money,” Simonsen said. “Well that first year we bought every dog that was available in Bountiful, every hot dog bun, heated up some containers of water and threw them in, and we were selling them almost faster than we could cook them. In fact, I don’t think those first wieners were ‘hot’ dogs at all, but the residents loved them!”

A few years later, the club added the highly-popular Smokin’ Tire Burnout event, held each year on a closed portion of 200 South (now adjacent to the Bountiful Town Square). 

“We reached out and found the very logical and supportive sponsor for the Burnout--Burt Brothers Tire and Service,” Simonsen said. “It has become a huge tradition in the community.”

This year’s schedule, as shown on the sidebar, also includes a cool car parade, pie eating contests, a huge car show, bike safety rodeo and flag ceremony. All of the proceeds from sales of food at the event are used to provide winter clothing to children in need in 20 local elementary schools. The Rotary Club also provides dictionaries to all third grade students, $1,000 college scholarships to 10 graduating seniors from Bountiful and Woods Cross High Schools, sends selected youth to a leadership academy each year, and provides a $1,000 grant to the Safe Harbor Crisis Center.

Rotarians are thankful for the many clubs and businesses that help sponsor the events. In addition to Burt Brothers, those include Ford, Holly Frontier, Bahr Dermatology, Stepsavers, Strategic Planning, Allstate, U of U Credit Union, Larry H. Miller Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge, Kentson Car Company, Freight Tech Management Group, Texas Roadhouse, and Joy Luck Restaurant which hosted the Coats for Kids kickoff luncheon.

“The joy for all of us comes from being able to put coats on kids,” Simonsen said. “We as Rotarians have a theme, ‘Service Above Self.’ It’s our guiding principle, and this event is just one example of the good we’re trying to do. We love it.”

All of the events are free to the public, but do plan to buy some food while you enjoy the activities. It’s for a great cause, and this year, the hot dogs WILL be hot. Rotarians promise!