Corvette Funfest
Mid America Motorworks Campus
Effingham, Illinois
September 17-18, 2021

The 2021 Corvette FunFest at Mid America Motorworks in
Effingham, Illinois lived up to it's billing!  It was a Corvette
event, a fun event, and it was a festival.  All rolled up into one!

The event kicked off with the opening ceremony.  It was a little
different this year as the opening ceremony took place at the 1910
gas station.  Note the headers on the podium!

At the podium (L to R) is Betsy Yager, Michael Yager, Mike Yager,
and Laurie Yager.

They welcomed everyone and made announcements about events
to come.

Sorry, jump back to the prior evening.  An event for the early-birds, this
was a round table discussion on all things Corvette, held at the Tuscan
Hills Winery there at Effingham.

(L to R) John Kraman, Mike Yager, Paul Koerner, and moderated by
Michael Yager.

Of course there were seminars.  They ran most of the day both days.

Kenny Yager had his "Scratch and Dent" sale, which is a favorite.

As you can see, there were car items, clothing, accessories, etc.

Here is the registration hall.  On the wall is a painting of John Lennon
that was painted right on stage by famous artist Denny Dent at a past FunFest.  It
was done to music, (one song), so it took three minutes tops for
the picture to be completed.  (Mike Yager brings the best entertainment
to Corvette Funfest.)

And it was Shine and Show out on the field.

On the left is Michelle, our club's Online Commerce Specialist, and on the
right is Marie, Michelle's long time friend from California.

Michelle had her '58 shiny and spotless for the show.  She drove the car there,
about a three hour drive.

That evening we went on a road tour that started with country roads
and ended up at the downtown square in Effingham.

Downtown Effingham was temporarily changed to Corvette-Ville as
the entire square and parking lots were filled with Corvettes.

Live music and good restaurants!  Hard to beat.

Ed Carlton gave a walking seminar on the C-4 racing cars that are there
at Mike's museum. 

Ed explained that the C-4 was designed to win at the track and win it did.  It

paved the way for Corvette racing to be taking the checkered flag.

And adding to the discussion is Mike Yager, chief at Mid-America Motorworks.

This is the 1989 ZR-1 prototype that was crushed by Lotus in England, (as was
ordered by the General).

Thanks to Mike, the car is now not crushed, rather it is restored, and it is on display for all to see.

This was a great panel discussion held in the big pavillion right by all
the cars.

Seated are (L to R) Ed Carlton, Mike Yager, Robert Pfeffer, and
John Pfeffer.

And I would be remiss if I did not show you the happy souls
from the Central Great Rivers Chapter who attended their
annual meeting right there at Corvette FunFest.

They hold their annual meeting at FunFest because everyone is
there already anyway.

Top row (L to R) Dale Lael, Mike Hausmann, Dennis Fontana, and
Jack Hollada.

Middle row (L to R) Jane Fontana, Michelle Paillou, Gerri Hollada, and
Marie Chance.  You can notice that Michelle and Gerri made the front page of
the Effingham Daily News!  They are shown in Michelle's '58 waving to Mike
Yager there at downtown Effingham.

Bottom row, (L to R)  Judy Coughlin, Denny Coughlin, and Laura Lael.

And I know that you are wondering if there was a banquet.  Yes! There was!

Here are some of the happy ones, (L to R) Ron Porter, Evelyn Porter (from California), Gerri Hollada, (empty seat because I took the picturte), Laura Lael,
and Dale Lael.  We made friends with Ron and Evelyn and they swore to join SACC!

Yes, we lived it up.

(Somebody's gotta do it!)

And was there a concert?  Absolutely!  It was Double Vision, a great
Foreigner tribute band from New York City.

The drummer is pointing to Mike and is saying to Mike "You throw a great party!"  And he was totally right!.

They played all the hits, plus came back because the crowd wanted more, and played another rocker after a brief discussion.  That tells you how great these nusicians are.  They can put together a song right on the spot.

So that was FunFest 2021.  In the history books it goes.  If you missed it, well you missed it.  With all the incertainties, like is the Illinois governor going to call for a lock down, etc, Mid America soldiered on and created and put on a great Corvette event.  Hats off to Mike and his crew at Mid-America!

-Jack Hollada, DC