MONTE VISTA — The second annual South Central Colorado Beer Fest and Car Show is coming to Monte Vista. The OptiMystics Citizens Action Network along with the Poor Boy Car Club are once again coming together to bring the San Luis Valley a Beer Fest and Car Show that will be held on Saturday, Aug. 20 at Chapman Park.

The event will include pre-registered and same-day car entry, along with a multitude of awards for different cars that enter. There will be various vendors on site along with plenty of beer, face painting, a bouncy house, and games.

“The idea for the original car show actually came BC, before COVID,” OptiMystics member Ken Hamko explained with a chuckle. “There was something that was put together called 'Taste of the Valley,' and it was out at Chapman Park. To see all the people that showed up for this event, to see all the vendors, to see the food trucks there. Well, Adam and I started talking about it and we said, you know, what can we do as the OptiMystics to bring this many people together? The Beer and Car Show just evolved from there.”

Adam Lock of the Optimystics also spoke about the beginning of the car show idea.

“We met with a couple of people from the Poor Boy Car Club at our Cinco de Mayo event," Lock said. "They said you know we do this car show in August, what about us doing some kind of joint venture together? We loved the idea, splitting the responsibility of this would be awesome. The Poor Boy Car Club brought the music and the cars, I mean this was just wonderful. They knocked it out of the park last year. We are just tickled that they are working with us again this year. Richard and his crew do such a wonderful job. They do so much. They bring music and cars and having us work together with the beer and the vendors, it's such a great marriage. This just works. We are excited for this second event this year. We would like to thank our sponsors, and also thank the Poor Boy Car Club for the partnership. This is what the OptiMystics are all about, connecting people, creating community.”

Mark Renshaw of the OptiMystics spoke about the upcoming Fest.

“I think this is wonderful," Renshaw said. "I think when you bring two opposing factors together like this, you just bring in more people. As a general rule, a car guy is not generally going to come to a park and bring vendors and beer, but together wow. I have been involved in the past with groups, who were a specific purpose, and when I started working with these other guys, well, these guys were people who actually wanted to do things, and not just talk about them. Once you see some of your efforts turn out and come together, it just blows you away. I am just hoping when we do this the second time, it's twice as good as the first time, and I believe it will be.”

Richard Garcia of the Poor Boy Car Club also spoke about the upcoming fest.

"Last year’s car show, the concept came from us thinking about the Homelake Vets," Garcia said. "We talked to the OptiMystics and they presented us with the idea of a joint venture and it worked out well. We were able to raise last year $4,500 for Homelake. It was such a nice partnership between the car club and the OptiMystics. It was such a positive thing to happen after COVID also. Last year, after the car show, we took some of the cars and ran a little parade through Homelake for the veterans, we are hoping to do the same this year, too. We also love to give checks to people who are in need of donation money. This year we have a couple of checks to give out, one to a woman who is battling cancer, and the other to a girl who received a heart transplant. Our club likes to do this, we want to give and enjoy giving back to the community. We have so many exciting things planned this year. We already have about 30 cars that have entered the car show and we will also have same-day registration and entry, as well. We have tons of giveaways, along with a lot of fun things for the kids, too. We are family-oriented, all our family is involved in this, and we want to invite everyone to bring their kids and their families to attend this year, too. Between the cars, the vendors, and the music, this year is going to be fantastic. We would also like to thank all our sponsors and the OptiMystics for partnering with us. This is going to be a great event for everyone. Come on out and join us.”

For more information about the South Central Colorado Beer Fest and Car show, visit optimystics.org.