Why wish upon a star, when a hot rod could go even faster?
The WiSH Foundation hosted its annual WiSH Upon a Car event at Valencia Town Center on Saturday.
With an array of cars that entered for $30 each, with all fees benefiting the William S. Hart Union High School District student and wellness programs, the judges included city of Santa Clarita Councilman Jason Gibbs and Evgenii Khomutskii of Mercedes of Valencia, who judged based on the following categories:
- Best Paint.
- Best Engine.
- Best Classic Muscle Car.
- Best Modern Muscle Car.
- Best Classic.
- Best Truck.
- Best Import.
- Best Motorcycle.
- Best Hot Rod.
Ryan Diez’s 1965 Mustang was among the 100 cars waiting to be evaluated by the judges.
“This is a great event because Santa Clarita has a pretty big car culture, and it’s growing. It’s a great opportunity to get together with locals, and we recognize a lot of the folks here, but there’s more and more joining every year, so it’s also really good for charity. We’re happy to be here,” Diez said. “I bought the car in the condition you see here. However, the interior was done by a local place near Saugus Cafe. I wanted to keep the business in the Santa Clarita community.”
What makes each car unique, according to Diez, is how each owner puts a “spin” when it comes to customizing.
“I tried to make mine a little bit different than everyone else’s, and that’s what’s neat about coming to these events. Not a lot of people make the car exactly how it was from the factory — they like to make it their own. This is completely different than how it would have looked in the ’60s,” Diez said.
Maria Slotsve, board member and volunteer coordinator for the event, described the process of ensuring the event was a success.
“We have a lot of student volunteers who understand that our mission is to fundraise and support our 20,000 students who go to the junior high and high schools here in the Hart district. They’re very motivated to help us,” Slotsve said. “We already had 60 pre-registered cars before today, and we had about another 20 to 30 cars that showed up today. We have a lot of vendors who approached us to be here. We have a beer garden, kids corner and DJ.”
Slotsve discussed the growth that the event is seeing more and more each year.
“We have a lot of new people that did not come last year, which we love. They heard about it and heard that last year was successful, so they’re coming and want to be a part of it this year. They know we have a really goodcrowd, because it’s important to them that they spend their Saturday night with us and that the audience comes out. A lot of people bring out their cars, and a lot of people come out of the woodwork,” Slotsve said.
The funds raised are used for the students anytime there is a dire need — such as the start of COVID-19, according to Slotsve.
“During the time of COVID, when the schools had shut down overnight, we put out over 20,000 Chromebooks for our students to work from home. We made sure that we had Wi-Fi and all of the … and they were able to keep them. The money always goes to what the students need,” Slotsve said.
Students Jess Ginsburg, 15, who is home schooled, and Olly Salas, 17, who is a junior at Golden Valley High School, shared their experience volunteering for a greater cause — one that supports their peers.
“I’m just super happy to help out. I love helping out at these things, and I love to support anything I can,” Ginsburg said.
“It’s like a community thing. There are so many people here, and it ranges from adults to kids who are in ROTC, which I think is super cool, because it gives us volunteer hours, while also being able to socialize with people,” Salas said. “Overall, I’m just excited to see how much people actually like walking around and supporting the foundation, and just having fun. The cars are all so beautiful, and overall I love cars. My grandpa ran a car show for a long time, and it feels like this is where I’m supposed to be.”
