Just like the titles reads, the 50^th Anniversary Bloomington Gold Corvette event was held recently. The event has moved around frequently over the years.  I personally feel this year it was at the right venue – where it started.  Bloomington, Illinois holds true to some wonderful memories through the years.  For as long as I can remember, my father and I would venture off to Bloomington Gold each year to help promote Corvettes at Carlisle and our other events.  Dad would judge each year for BG which forced me to hand out brochures for our events and speaking to potential new guests.

Speaking of great memories, all I heard over the two-day event was people reminiscing of the old days at Bloomington Gold. Yes, I was often trying to remember much of the facility from “back in the day” however I honestly did not.  With that said, the event was held at Illinois State University which is a state of the art beautiful campus.  What I did remember were all the fun memories I had with my father/son trips to/from BG each year.  I recall burnouts in the hotel parking lots, to fun parties at friends homes to just hanging out with a bundle of Corvette buddies.  Again, I love that Bloomington Gold is back home…it just felt right.

The first day was setup day, so I setup our indoor booth space in the arena which was a very large facility that consists of many basketball courts.  There were plenty of vendors setup in the indoor arena and there was also some outdoor vending as well.  I enjoyed making my rounds and catching up with many vendors throughout the event.  Just about everyone I spoke too really liked the new venue and a majority of them felt that more people came out versus the previous location which was at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Bloomington Gold is certainly known for their judging and this year didn’t disappoint. When you walked into the amazing Redbird Arena. There were Corvettes of all generations represented and the view was superb when looking down from the birds-eye view seating.  On Saturday, the Corvette parade was well received too.  I enjoyed walking around downtown Bloomington-Normal as they had a band playing in the streets.

One of my favorite parts of Bloomington Gold is the Special Collection. This year hosted some of the very best Corvettes in the world. It was really amazing seeing them all in one location. Speaking of memories, boy did this building bring back some serious memories – the same one that the Special Collection started in. There were super low mileage L88’s (12 mile car) all the way to a ’63 Grand Sport from the Revs Institute and everything in between. I took plenty of pictures for you to enjoy the event if you couldn’t make it.

Overall Bloomington Gold was a fun-filled event. As I often say… the cars bring us together, but the people behind the wheel is what the hobby is all about. It was nice catching up with many friends and forming a few new ones along the way. Life is good!

-Lance Miller

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