In less than a month, Kinetic Derby Day will commence on State and Meeting Streets in West Columbia.

As the Saturday, April 27, date gets closer, the excitement is mounting.

Kinetic Derby Day is free and includes a kinetic sculpture parade, soapbox car racing for adults and children, art, food, and family fun.

The Kinetic Sculpture Parade begins at 11 a.m. on Meeting Street. The adult soap box derby racing begins at 11:30 a.m. on Meeting Street. Adults have two race categories, Art Cars and Need For Speed. Children ages 8 and up will race on Meeting Street. Authentic vintage race cars will be available for the younger children to race on State Street.

Lexington School District Two students are building an entry for the Columbia’s Kinetic Derby Day parade. Alexandra Pinto, a seventh-grade math and science teacher at Busbee Creative Arts Academy is overseeing the construction of an Kinetic Derby Day float.

“We saw that there is an award for a literacy theme,” Pinto said, “so we wanted to go with that.”

Last year Busbee’s middle school students built a float for the Kinetic Derby Day parade.

It was a partnership with the University of South Carolina and included a WeReadSC theme. It was named “The Cocky Reading Express.” Busbee also handed out books as they marched in the parade with the 28-foot-long, 8-foot tall float. Pamela Hoppock guided that project. She is a volunteer building the Busbee float this year.

This year, Pinto said Busbee students comprised a list of their favorite books and selected a theme from that.

“We chose Dr. Seuss,” said Pinto. “We’ll have three mini-floats,” she said. The books represented will be ‘Horton Hears a Who’, ‘The Places You’ll Go’, and ‘The Lorax.’”

More about the Dr. Seuss books and their author on Page A10 in the Chronicle Book Club.

Pinto said the students love the creativity involved to build their Kinetic Derby Day parade entry. She said 30-to-35 students are working on the float.

“They love it,” said Pinto. And based on the experience from the participation last year in Kinetic Derby Day, the students were eager to get involved again this year.

Pinto said the project gives her the opportunity to work with students in an extra-curricular activity and it allows for the expression of different talents for the students.

“Some are more hands-on, working with a drill and the actual building of the float,” said Pinto. Others contribute creatively, and by helping develop the design of the float. “They can do different things.”

Laird Thompson, the Lexington 2 Innovation Center’s welding instructor and his students, are working on an entry for Kinetic Derby Day, too.

The L2IC level one students are building an entry for the parade called “Rollin Coal”.

“It is a hybrid bike, go cart that will be a ‘squatted’ welding truck theme,” said Joni Coleman, L2IC director.