It’s finally here! The inaugural Rylan Strong Car and Bike Show rolls into town this Saturday.
The show is set for 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27 at Celebration Park located at 198 E. Elm Street in Dublin.
The Rylan Strong Network was formed to aid childhood cancer research and help families with kids battling cancer in honor of local Rylan Pruitt, 6, who passed away in March after his brave fight against medullomyoblastoma, a rare type of brain cancer.
“He would love this,” Rylan’s dad Mike Pruitt shared about the upcoming event. “He loved fast cars, motorcycles, ATVs and trucks. He’s made a difference all over the world. I think he would be proud of what we’ve done.”
Each day, 47 children are diagnosed with cancer in the United States, which means more than 17,000 children in the U.S. are diagnosed each year.
With additional funds raised for organizations such as St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, additional treatments and maybe even a cure someday can be funded.
In order to raise awareness and funds for the certified nonprofit, the car show will host many opportunities including selling Rylan Strong T-shirts and bracelets and hosting a variety of vendors.
Entries for cars, bikes and booths are $20 in advance and $25 day of the event.
There will be extremely unique and handmade trophies presented to winners for the car show including most unique, best paint, best of car, best of bike and best in show.
There will be tons of family- friendly fun with a kids mechanical bull, a virtual shooting gallery trailer, facepainting, the Denton Spiderman with sno-cones and live music.
On Friday, there will be an apprentice competition at Wicked Clover located downtown along with Inky Blinders, a tattoo shop in Maypearl. On Saturday, there will be a flash sale at Wicked Clover in conjunction with the event along with a $400 tattoo raffle.
“Dublin took care of us,” Mike said about the community’s support with Rylan. “We wanted to make this the home of the event. We also really want to thank all of sponsors for helping to get the word out.”
There will be a candlelight vigil at 9 p.m. to celebrate Rylan’s life.
Anyone wanting more information can call 254-403-9003. To register for the car and bike show, go to www. rylanstrong.com/event-reg. Day of registration will be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.