Event officials announced today that they will hold their last event at Pheasant Run in 2012 and introduce an updated event in Champaign County in 2013—Bloomington Gold’s 40th Anniversary. “Although it will be hard to beat the beautiful fairways of Pheasant Run, input from Corvette owning customers wanted more opportunity for socializing and driving events as part of the entire Corvette show experience. It needed to become more dynamic”, said Bloomington Gold CEO, David Burroughs. He continued, “Our customers own Corvettes because they are fun to drive. So, we needed a venue that not only served our exhibitors and customers who buy/sell […]
Event officials announced today that they will hold their last event at Pheasant Run in 2012 and introduce an updated event in Champaign County in 2013—Bloomington Gold’s 40th Anniversary.
“Although it will be hard to beat the beautiful fairways of Pheasant Run, input from Corvette owning customers wanted more opportunity for socializing and driving events as part of the entire Corvette show experience. It needed to become more dynamic”, said Bloomington Gold CEO, David Burroughs.
He continued, “Our customers own Corvettes because they are fun to drive. So, we needed a venue that not only served our exhibitors and customers who buy/sell and certify Corvettes, but also a venue that makes it easy and fun to navigate to/from and around the community before, during, and after the show. Therefore, we needed a small town atmosphere with big town hotels, great facilities, and quick escape routes to miles of country roads. Champaign, IL has the smaller town atmosphere and the University of Illinois Assembly Hall grounds have everything else.”
“This multi-day event creates millions in economic impact and showcases Champaign County on a national and international level,” said Jayne DeLuce President & CEO of the Champaign County Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We are excited to bring an event of this magnitude here.”
Begun in 1973, in Bloomington (50 miles northwest of Champaign), Bloomington Gold is not only thelongest running national Corvette event but also is noted for innovations that have been commonly copied by many other automotive events. Corvette auctions, swap meets, Certification, SURVIVOR®, educational seminars, and special museum-type displays all began at Bloomington Gold. But what “lit the tires” for most Corvette enthusiasts were the awesome road tours when Bloomington Gold was located in Central Illinois. One of those tours is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest continual road tour of 2,223 Corvettes. That record still stands. A feat simply not practical in the Chicagoland area.
“Even Corvette owners know we don’t always do things by the books in Champaign, but for Guinness we’ll make an exception,” noted Champaign Mayor Don Gerard in regard to an impending World Record. “Downtown Champaign will be the final destination for the Bloomington Gold Road Tour and we’ll have food, entertainment and a whole lot of fun waiting for the Cavalcade of Corvettes.”
The event will begin with educational seminars on Thursday, June 27 and the Corvette show will run Friday and Saturday. The SURVIVOR® Collector Car event will follow on Sunday, June 30. It isAmerica’s only car event devoted exclusively to un-restored original collector cars of all makes and models. 2013 will mark the sixth year for the SURVIVOR Collector Car event. Visit www.bloomingtongold.com for more information.
