Lewis County men who were hoping to challenge reigning Mr. Lewis County Tom Craswell and win the coveted custom squirrel beer koozie for themselves this past weekend will have to wait for their chance after thunderstorms in the area forced Veterans Memorial Museum Executive Director Chip Duncan to reschedule the event.
When the storm hit Chehalis on Saturday morning, Duncan said he got a call from the band he booked saying they weren’t going to risk setting up outside the museum in a storm. With the threat of more thunderstorms still looming, many of the classic and custom car owners who were also planning on coming out would’ve likely stayed home as well.
Originally scheduled for last Saturday during the Cruzin’ To The Muzeum Car Show, this year’s Mr. Lewis County contest will be held at the Cruzin’ To Good Buzz Car Show scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 31, starting at 3 p.m.
It will be held outside of Good Buzz Brewing Co., located at 1640 S. Gold St. in Centralia’s Fairway Center.
“We’ve been having some meetings with Good Buzz, working on our Pacific Northwest Veterans Coalition, and wanting to do veterans nights at Good Buzz and give them a place to hang out, network and all that stuff,” Duncan said to The Chronicle on Saturday.
Good Buzz Brewing is also a veteran-owned business, started by U.S. Army veteran Forrest Chesvick after he first began brewing mead as a hobby during his spare time while still in the service.
Mead — which some believe is actually the first alcoholic beverage humans produced — is an alcoholic beverage produced by fermenting honey along with other ingredients including fruits, herbs and spices.
After Chesvick completed his enlistment and was discharged, he started perfecting his craft and began producing mead commercially in 2022 before opening Good Buzz Brewing Co. as his taproom in 2023 at the Fairway Center.
“Forrest is a classic car owner, too, and wants to do a little bit of the car scene,” Duncan added. “I thought, ‘It’s a little late in the year, but Aug. 31 is kind of open to invite the car community to come hang out for a few hours. And since we canceled the band here, we can take the band there and do the Mr. Lewis County contest there.’”
Along with the car show and Mr. Lewis County contest, the event will also feature raffles with prizes including gift certificates to other local businesses in the Fairway Center.
“The idea, for the local businesses, is trying to drum up a little more traffic to them,” Duncan said.
For more information on the Mr. Lewis County contest and the Cruzin’ To Good Buzz Car Show, follow Cruzin’ To The Muzeum on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CruzinToTheMuseum.
To learn more about Good Buzz Brewing Co., visit https://goodbuzzbrewingco.com/.
