Mid America Motorworks Celebrates 25 Years of Corvette Funfest!
Next weekend, the City of Effingham, Illinois will be flooded with Corvettes and Corvette enthusiasts from across the country and around the world as Mid America Motorworks presents its 25th Annual “Corvette Funfest” from September 2o-23, 2018.
This event began in 1994 when Mid America Motorworks founder Mike Yager and his team hosted a Corvette show to thank their customers for their patronage. Even in that first year, a crowd of 1,200 people and 350 Corvettes showed up on the campus to celebrate their shared love of the Corvette hobby. By 2006, this weekend-long Corvette car show became the most successful – and largest – Corvette event in the world, attracting enthusiasts (and cars) at a global level.
This year, the Mid America Motorworks team is expecting more than 40,000 visitors to the 25th Annual Corvette Funfest over the course of the three-day weekend. The weekend-long event is still held at the Motorworks campus on North U.S. 45.
The event opens at 8am on Thursday, September 20th at the Mid American Motorworks Funfest Grounds, with a multitude of events scheduled throughout the weekend including seminars, demonstrations, excursions, a “Swapfest” and a Saturday night concert featuring the band Decades Rewind. On Thursday afternoon, the Fun Run Road Tour will depart from Mid America Motorworks in several waves as hundreds of Corvettes take a secnic drive through Effingham County before returning to downtown Effingham that evening.
Standard Registration for the event is normally $25.00, but as Mid America is celebrating its 25 years of hosting this event, they’ve decided to waive the registration fee, making this a FREE event for anyone that wants to make the pilgrimage to Illinois! Standard Registration includes:
- Admission for two people and one car.
- Includes one “goodie pack,” a lapel pin and poster from the event,
- A number of discounts on purchases made throughout the weekend.
- Inclusion in the Thursday Fun Run & Downtown Party,
- Access to all of the Funfest seminars.
- Admission to the Saturday night concert!
Mid America Motorworks also offers attendees an Ultimate Registration package. This package is $262.50, and is PER PERSON attending, but is still an incredible value. The Ultimate Registration package includes:
- Ultimate hospitality throughout the weekend! All-Access to the VIP Hospitality Tent with Corvette Celebrities and Media Guests.
- One Saturday Evening Entertainment VIP Pass (Includes Saturday Evening Gala and Front-Row Concert Access).
- Discount on purchases made throughout the weekend (some exclusions apply).
- The opportunity to help lead the Thursday night Fun Run Road Tour to the Downtown Party.
- A commemorative Photo with Mike Yager.
- Snacks and Beverages provided Throughout Weekend
- Breakfast and lunch served on Friday and Saturday.
- Weekend Premium Parking
- 1 Goodie Bag, T-Shirt, Yearbook, Lapel Pin, Poster and special Ultimate gift.
- A limited number of Hotel Rooms available at a discounted Corporate Rate.
- The ability to work directly with Mid America’s Ultimate Coordinator to plan your Ultimate Weekend!
The City of Effingham Convention and Visitors Bureau will get things kicked-off by hosting a Corvette Welcome Fest Downtown Party from 5 to 8pm on Thursday, September 20th. Residents of Effingham are invited (and encouraged) to join-in the event by welcoming Corvette enthusiasts to Effingham. The Fun Run Road tour will end in downtown Effingham with a Corvette parade. The parade route will run down Jefferson Avenue and end at the County Courthouse Museum square.
“We are expecting between 500 and 700 Corvettes to participate in this year’s downtown party,” said Effingham Tourism Director Jodi Thoele. “The Corvette Welcome Fest is a great opportunity for us to welcome visitors to our community, but also for residents to come and check out some one-of-a-kind Corvettes and enjoy the downtown festivities. We have a great lineup this year.”
Activities that evening will include food from Lickin’ My Chicken & Pullin’ My Pork BBQ and Robin’s Nest Gourmet Fare, in addition to other great sweet treats, including Aunt Kim’s Kettle Corn, Toppins Soft Serve and Effingham Tropical Sno. Attendees can also enjoy live musical entertainment by Quick & Bradley, great giveaways, and of course, a chance to see a variety of Corvettes.
“There will be a lot of activity downtown that evening, and we hope residents will join us. We hope everyone will come out and enjoy a great night in our beautiful downtown area,” said Thoele.
Per Mike Yager, “It has been especially gratifying for us to be able to host Funfest on our campus and be able to meet our customers face-to-face. Our customers actually named it ‘Funfest’ in many of the cards and letters we received after the first event. We continue to give away T-shirts, posters and pins to each registrant attending Funfest — a tradition that began years ago. Once you attend Funfest, you usually make a point of attending every year.”
For more information about the events being hosted by Mid America Motorworks during the 25th Annual Corvette Funfest, visit www.CorvetteFunfest.com.
