CAVE CITY — Reach Out for Kosair Kids, a fundraiser in its fifth year, seeks to raise $30,000 for Kosair Charities on Saturday.

The event, which will feature a range of activities, including a live auction, a silent auction, an antique trailer and car show and carnival games, will take place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Cave City Convention Center, with a parade beforehand set to begin at 8 a.m. Attendance is free.

When the event was first organized, Reach Out For Kosair Kids wasn’t expected to have a long lifespan, according to Freda Smith, the event’s coordinator. A friend of hers with fundraising experience said events like this don’t last long, she said.  

“They told us it normally takes three years for an event like this to fizzle out, but it’s been five years and it’s still going strong,” Smith said.  

In 2012, the first year Reach Out was held, about 300 people attended and the event raised roughly $11,000, which far exceeded the $2,000 to $5,000 the organizer Glasgow Shrine Club was expecting, she said. 

Since then, the event has grown each year, Smith said. 

“Last year, we had over 1,000 people,” she said. “It’s grown tremendously.” 

Over the course of four years, the event has raised a total of $91,700, she said.

Smith attributed the event’s success partly to years of promotion by local radio station Willie 94.1, before the Shriners decided to discontinue their partnership with the station after last year’s Reach Out so they could promote the event on other media outlets and to its even-handed approach to naming its donors.

Reach Out, rather than putting the names of the biggest donors on banners, credits all donors on a massive Powerpoint slideshow at the event. 

“We treat all our donors equally,” she said. “We don’t have levels of sponsorship.”

According to its website, Kosair Charities supports more than 90 agencies that provide medical care to children throughout Kentucky and aids children outside of hospitals with medical referrals, financial assistance and transportation.

Billy Poteet, general manager of Zaxby’s in Glasgow, said Zaxby’s will once again host its annual Zaxby’s Wing Chomp, where contestants compete to finish a set of 20 wings the fastest, at the event. 

“We have been known to sneak one ‘insane wing’ into the boxes to make things interesting,” he said. 

This is the ninth year Zaxby’s has hosted its wing chomp, which started as a fundraiser for Kosair, and the fifth year it’s been held at Reach Out, Poteet said.

Because Reach Out is a fundraiser for Kosair, becoming part of the event was a “natural fit” for the wing-eating contest, he said. 

“The money goes to such an awesome charity,” Poteet said. “I can’t think of any lives that are better impacted than by what we do for Kosair Charities.” 

Robert King, a member of the Glasgow Shrine Club, said he’s confident Reach Out will hit its $30,000 goal. “I’m sure we’ll make that,” he said.   

The Shriners, in collaboration with this event, raise additional funds each year by going to area businesses and selling candy, he said.

King said he expects these sales efforts to raise an additional $30,000 to $35,000 for Kosair Charities.  

— Follow Daily News reporter Jackson French on Twitter @Jackson_French or visit bgdailynews.com.