In 1994 Mike Yager and the team at Mid America Motorworks - then called Mid America Designs - staged a relaxed Corvette show to thank their customers and share the Corvette hobby. An enthusiastic crowd of 1,200 people brought 350 assorted Corvettes to Mid America Motorworks' corporate campus to celebrate. Yager was thrilled with the response to the first-time event!
By 2006, more than 14,000 Corvettes filled every available space on the grounds at Mid America Motorworks. This casual show has become the Largest Corvette Party in the World, welcoming enthusiasts from across the country and across the globe.
Over the years, a number of noteworthy Corvette celebrities have attended the ever-growing event, including Zora Arkus-Duntov, the first Chief Engineer of Corvette, Larry Shinoda, designer of the 1963 Corvette Split Window, Wil Cooksey, Manager of the Bowling Green Corvette Plant, David McLellan, the Chief Engineer of the C4 Corvette, and Dave Hill, the Chief Engineer of the C5 and C6 Corvettes.
According to 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."
Today Funfest continues to grow with 15,000 Corvettes and 45,000 attendees flooding the grounds.