Westlake Village Soap Box Derby is good clean fun

A little over a year ago, we decided to bring Soap Box Derby to life for the first time in Westlake Village. After a lot of hard work, the kids in the Triunfo YMCA Trailblazer program (Indian Guides for third to sixth graders) got to race down the track this past Sunday. Nearly 80 kids raced, with a heat taking place about every two minutes for three hours. I've never seen smiles so big.

Every kid who raced owes a big thanks to their dads for helping them build a great array of soap box cars. I think that we all valued the building experience, even if it was tough to chunk out the time from busy schedules.

I wanted to take a moment to thank the nearly 75 volunteers who helped make the Soap Box Derby a reality. These were not just folks from within our programs, but we even had several folks from around the community who just wanted to help. Yep, you heard me right. Wow.

Add to it all the great support that we got from those in the community for the car show, from the fire department, the city of Westlake Village, our sponsors, and even from a local race car driving team.

With the Y programs, it's all about us getting to spend quality time with our kids and making memories. I'm used to seeing our dads jump in and help, and I appreciate every one of them. But even more so, this event truly brought the community together. It was wonderful to see, and once again demonstrates why we live here.

Thank you, everyone, for helping to build some terrific memories, not just for the kids, but for all. Neil Ticktin Westlake Village