Organizers plan a caliente kickoff for the Brown Express/Emporia State University Hispanic American Leaders Organization’s 12th annual custom car show to raise money for ESU scholarships.
Activities will begin Wednesday at the Memorial Union on campus, with a pinata-busting and a jalapeno-eating contest with winners taking home $50 each in prize money.
“We’re going to do a kickoff of the car show and Cinco de Mayo,” said Gilbert Rodriguez of the Brown Express.
Pinatas containing both candy and money will be swatted and broken beginning at 11:30 p.m.
The eating contest will run from noon to 1:30 p.m., with faculty members and students competing in separate categories, broken into genders.
The contest will begin with female students pitted against other female students, followed by male students, faculty/staff/administration women, and ending with men against men.
“It’s a different event and nobody’s done that around here, really,” Gilbert Rodriguez of the Brown Express said of the pepper-eating contest. “We’ve got a lot of participants already.”
Emergency medical technicians with the Emporia-Lyon County Fire Department will stand by in case anyone needs medical treatment during the jalapeno-eating contest, Rodriguez said.
Both events will be held at Union Square, weather permitting, or on Memorial Union Main Street if weather is inclement.
Free popcorn and pop will be available for all who attend.
A raffle for more than 60 prizes will be held, with a suggested donation of 50 cents per ticket. The raffle is sponsored by the Emporia State Federal Credit Union.
The car show on Sunday will be held at the Student Recreation Center on the north side of the campus. The show is open to the public at no charge, beginning officially at 1 p.m. Registration will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
In case of inclement weather, the show will move inside the Flinthills Mall, 1632 Industrial Road.
Entries can be made in a variety of categories: antique, classic, domestic 1980 to 1995, domestic 1996 to 2009, street rods, hot rods, low rider, muscle car, sports compact, Euro, trucks, SUVs, “under construction” and miscellaneous.
Categories also include low-rider bikes, sound-off stereos, and an unlimited class for entries not covered in other categories.
Prizes will be awarded for first, second and third places in each division, with a $100 cash prize and a two-foot trophy going to the winner of the ESU President Best of Show winner.
Trophies will be given for first through third-place winners in full custom and mile low-rider bikes, and one trophy each for paint, upholstery, under construction and best display.
First- through third-place prizes will be awarded in the sound-off stereo category.
Donation prizes of $1,000 will be included for participants, who will pay $22 to register for the show.
Jock’s Nitch, Budweiser and Flinthills Mall are sponsors for the trophies.
The show also will feature a D.C. Sounds by Aron Dody as disc jockey, a Mexican Dance Group, a karate demonstration by Topeka Martial Arts instructor Ronnie Moore, K.C.-CQC Girls, and “Arapnaphobia Records” of Wichita entertaining with singing and break dancing.
Vendors and other entertainment also will be available, according to information from organizers.
More information may be had from the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitors Bureau, 342-1600 or www.emporiakschamber.org; from Rodriguez, 340-0353; or by emailing rgitchel@emporia.edu.
Proceeds from the events will go to the ESU General Academic Scholarship Fund.