Registration is open for the second annual 3-on-3 Streetball Festival, scheduled for the first weekend in August near downtown Chehalis.
“We’re just really excited to be able to run this again,” said event director Joe Chirhart, who also directed last year’s event.
Ten half-courts will be set up on Northwest Pacific Avenue for teams of four, divided into three divisions based on age, to compete Saturday, Aug. 3 and Sunday, Aug. 4.
The youth division includes boys and girls subdivisions for fourth and fifth graders, middle schoolers and high schoolers. The adult division is broken out into competitive men’s and women’s subdivisions, and recreational men’s, women’s and coed subdivisions.
To register a team, visit http://chamberway.com/ and click on the “Events” tab. Registration fees for adult players are $40 per person, $160 per team. For youth teams, the fee is $140, $35 per player.
The event was purposefully scheduled during the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s (WIAA) dead period so local high school and college athletes can participate.
“We’re hoping that teens can round up some friends and put together a team,” Chirhart said.
Chirhart played collegiate basketball for St. Martin’s University in Lacey, graduating in 2007. He coached boys basketball at Tenino High School from 2013 to 2022 before joining the Centralia College men’s basketball staff as a volunteer assistant in 2022. He became the program’s head coach ahead of the 2023 basketball season and was named Centralia College’s athletic director in May 2024.
“I’m excited to help grow the Centralia College brand,” Chirhart said in an interview with The Chronicle in June. “And to also continue to make sure I support coaches and build strong relationships with people in the communities and our kids. I’m super excited.”
Chirhart and his Centralia College basketball players will shut down a section of Northwest Pacific Avenue where it intersects with Center Street at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 2 to set up the half-courts for the weekend games. Last year, they were out until 2 a.m. Saturday morning getting everything ready.
For his second year running the 3-on-3 Streetball Festival for the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce, Chihart said he is looking forward to growing the event from last year.
“As we continue to run the event, we hope it continues to grow and get better, and bring some fun basketball outside,” Chirthart said.
The event’s primary sponsor Lucky Eagle Casino & Hotel, which also sponsored the event last year.
“We’re always looking for more sponsors,” Chirhart said, adding that logos are printed on the hoops’ backboards. “Those logos get seen,” he said.
With the event taking place in downtown Chehalis, organizers hope participants will bring some additional traffic to downtown businesses throughout the weekend.
“We’re just trying to bring some excitement to downtown Chehalis,” Chirhart said of the event.
For more information, contact the chamber at 360-748-8885 or email director@chamberway.com.
