MARYSVILLE — While the second annual open house and car show at the Kumon Math & Reading Center of Marysville on Saturday, July 21, attracted a slightly sparser crowd than last year’s inaugural event, the event’s organizers were hardly discouraged.

While Gwen Lewis, owner of the Marysville Kumon branch, had intended for the first car show to reintroduce their business to the community after its move last year, her son and coworker at the Marysville branch, Ivan Lewis, noted that the event was also meant to help raise funds for the Susan G. Komen “3 Day for the Cure” breast cancer research fundraising walk this fall.

Ivan and his wife Amanda will once again be taking part in the “3 Day for the Cure” in Seattle, this time with five people on their team, “The Turnouts,” as opposed to the three they had last year. While many of the hot dogs they were ready to cook up on the grill that day went uneaten, they plan on using those for their next “3 Day for the Cure” fundraiser at Fenders and Fins, the co-sponsors of the last two years of open houses and car shows at Kumon. Amanda’s father, John Carson, owns Fenders and Fins.

“Besides, what else were we going to be doing on a Saturday?” Ivan Lewis said July 21, as he cooked up hot dogs for those who did enter cars in the show. “I was actually worried about the weather, with the way it’s been going lately, but when I woke up this morning, I was like, ‘Aw, yeah!’ We had so many people calling us up this past week, too, asking us when they should show up and how they would register.”

One classic car owner who made the trek was H.C. “Kit” Carson, who gained his nickname in the U.S. Air Force. Carson acquired his 1965 Plymouth Valiant Signet 12 years ago in Sacramento, Calif., as a fixer-upper for his wife.

“It’s got a Slant-6 engine as opposed to a V-8, so it’s economical,” Carson said. “It gets 24 miles per gallon going down the highway at legal speed.”

At the same time, Carson is hardly a strict utilitarian about his automobiles, since one of the features he’s quick to point out about his rig is its distinctive “California Gold” paint job.

“I like coming to car shows,” Carson said. “I like meeting other car guys, even though not that many other folks showed up today.”

Looking ahead, the Lewises believe their “3 Day for the Cure” fundraising should ultimately be able to meet their goal of $11,500 this year, since their total take of $7,300 for last year exceeded their 2011 fundraising goal of only $6,900.

To pitch in on behalf of the Lewises’ “The Turnouts,” either log onto www.the3day.org and search for “The Turnouts,” or email the Lewises at info@theturnouts.org.