The Corvette Funfest is approaching the close of its second decade of Corvettes, Corvettes, and more Corvettes. The show is put on every year by Mid America Motorworks founder Mike Yager. The event is held in Yager’s corporate headquarters located in Effingham, Illinois.
While the show started out as a way for Yager to give back to the model that has given him so much it has now become an annual pilgrimage for many Corvette faithful. The show is more than a simply car show and the adventure that is Corvette Funfest features special guest speakers, information galore, and vendors on site ready to sell a Vette owner any part they can imagine and some they may have never thought about.
Corvette Funfest will typically see over 15,000 Corvettes that will make the trip and these Corvettes will represent every state and every year of the Corvette many times over. Special work station are set up across from the wave of Corvettes and all event long there will be mechanics that are ready and willing to install a brand new aftermarket exhaust on a participants Corvette for a nominal fee of course. Special stations give a sample of what the stock exhaust versus the aftermarket exhaust will sound like can leave many with some temporary deafness, but the point comes through crystal clear.
It would seem that in every direction of the show there is an opportunity for a participant to better their Vette and squeeze every last pony possible out of it. When the heat and the cost gets to be too much there are always special guest speakers that are teaching something new under the shade of a great big tent. Put simply, Corvette Funfest is non-stop Corvette overload.
The special Corvette show also features a number of custom made Corvettes as well. While many are those that belong to the faithful that make the annual trip, some are actually famous Vettes that are on display for the show only. In 1997 the Corvette Funfest featured the actual Corvette that was used and driven in the movie Corvette Summer. Those that remember the movie will often remember that it is Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) that is the star of the movie, but few remember what the Vette itself looked like.
The Corvette Funfest also has an iconic rock band concert to compliment the iconic cars each Saturday of the show and acts such as Three Dog Night will take the participants back to the good old days of rock and roll. Honestly, is there anything better than rock and roll mixed with tons of Corvettes?
While the trip may be a long on for many, especially if you live on the West Coast, it is a pilgrimage that should be taken at least one time in a lifetime and what better way to get there than in a Corvette? The event is one that should not be missed and Yager puts on quite the show for all those who love what he loves the most; the Chevrolet Corvette.
