Car show in memory of former Covington resident

Jul. 5—DANVILLE — Colton Wright loved cars and a car show will be at the Village Mall this weekend in his memory.

The first Colton Wright Memorial Car Show will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with awards at 2:30 p.m., Saturday, July 9 at the Danville Village Mall, 2917 N. Vermilion St., parking lot near the former Sears and Carson's.

Registration is from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. The fee is $10 to enter a car, truck, motorcycle or golf cart. Dash plaques will be given to the first 50 entries.

There will be four food trucks, raffle drawings, a 50-50 raffle, and hats, t-shirts and bracelets will be available. Music will be provided by Mike's Karaoke.

The event is sponsored by the Village Mall and Colton's family and friends.

Colton, 24, formerly of Covington, Ind. died unexpectedly on Dec. 9, 2021, in Sarasota, Fla.

A scholarship has been set up in Colton's name at Danville Area Community College for a student majoring in auto mechanics. All funds raised from the car show will go toward that annual scholarship.

With money donated so far, they were able to already pick a recipient for 2022, said Colton's mother, Amy Thompson.

"To be able to help a student who wants to major in that field seemed like the perfect fit. Though Colton did not attend DACC, our family has a lot of ties to the community college. Both my husband, Chuck, and myself attended DACC as well as Colton's dad, Brian. His brother, Clayton, graduated from DACC in 2019, his step-grandfather, Chuck Thompson, was a counselor at Danville Junior College (now DACC) and his step-grandma, Jean Thompson, also graduated from DACC, as well as many of Colton's family & friends have attended DACC," according to Amy Thompson.

The car show is meaningful to Colton's family and friends for a number of reasons.

"The reason I wanted to do a Car, Truck, Motorcycle and Golf Cart Show in memory of my son, Colton Wright, was for a few reasons. He loved vehicles and golf carts from a very early age. He had the ability to look at a vehicle driving down the road or on a car lot and tell you all the details about that particular vehicle (make, model, the extra options available, etc.)," Amy Thompson stated.

"His love and passion for vehicles never wavered. He bought his first brand new vehicle at the age of 16 and his first golf cart at the age of 10 years old with the money he used from a four-wheeler he traded in. Colton was known as the 'go to guy' even before he was a teenager for family and friends who wanted opinions on what type of vehicle to purchase. To this day, my sister, Cassandra, still has her vehicle that Colton went with her to buy and knew all of the questions to ask the salesperson. Cassandra always talks about how he was able to get her a better deal on that vehicle," Amy said.

Amy reached out to Danville Village Mall property manager Cinnamyn Keith, to see if the mall would be an option to host the car show.

"Without hesitation she said they would be happy to host it and help with costs of covering it which included the insurance, purchasing shirts which will be on sale the day of the show and publicity," Amy said.

The show also ties in with the weekend's Balloons Over Vermilion at the airport.

"I have been so grateful for the amount of support my family and I have received for the show. We have had so many people reach out wanting to volunteer, donate raffle prizes and help in any way they can. We have a wide variety of raffle items as well as some bigger items which will be silent auction items," Amy said.

Items include tickets to a Cubs/Cardinals baseball game, and Chuck Nesbitt made a very unique table out of car parts that will be one of the silent auction items.

Some of the awards given the day of the show will be Top 10 Vehicles (this could be a car, truck or motorcycle) as well as 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for the golf cart entries.

"We are hoping people will get creative with their golf carts and decorate them however they choose to," Amy said.

Amy's brother-in-law, Kevin Smith, has made a specialty award out of car parts that will be given as the Colton's Best of Show Award. Kevin also handmade the three golf cart awards. He is an extremely talented woodworker, Amy said.

Donors: Mike Boblett from Mike's Karaoke; Brian and Kim Stultz — photographers; Village Mall — Cinnamyn Keith and Staff — venue sponsor; Kevin and Cassandra Smith (handmade trophy, car wash kit, goody bags, golf cart trophies, etc.); Laura Bell with LimeLife (box of LimeLife beauty products); Dianne Lockwood — patriotic picnic tub full of picnic goodies; Lisa Williams — (camping lawn chair and s'mores kit); Stephanie Lober and Chelsea Freeman — The Local Restaurant; Jennifer Wright — Bored Farmers Wife (profits from t-shirts); Ashley Foster — gift cards; Tracy Acord — gift cards (Jocko's, Monical's, Giordano's and Olive Garden); J.J. Lockwood; Toyota of Danville; Wright's Heating & Air (Frank and Faith Wright); Hayley Siefert — Keller Williams Realty; Liberty Village of Danville; Jodie Burnett — gift cards; Melody Kelson, Jill Wilson and Peyton Wilson; Cathy Boyer — Turtle Run Golf Course two rounds of golf and patriotic truck; Speedy's Quick Print — donation of fliers and posters; Nancy Walser — homemade afghan blanket; Brenda Wright — two handmade quilts; Candy Grant — hand painted garden stone and jewelry; Shawn and Brittany Davis; Cassie Rodgers — monetary donation; Fred and Jamie Jones — gift cards; Fluffy Fellow Farms — baked goods; Rowdy Star Custom Banners — Kathy Pichon — banner; Dazey's Hair Lab — Jakob Dazey; Veedersburg Trophy Shop (Renee Keller) — donation of dash plaques; Charlie and Kathy Nesbitt — donation of handmade table; Tina Karuszis — paintings and two totes full of prizes, and gift cards; Bling it by Burks (Michelle Burks) — car decals; Sophia Aquino — vocalist performance; and E&B Gifts and Awards — Will Wallpe.