Wisconsin Convertible Classic 2001

With no national Miata event scheduled for 2001, we decided to try something else this year.

We had read about an annual event held in different locations in Wisconsin. The four-day event involves 200 convertibles playing "games" in selected areas of the state. This year, it would be headquartered in Green Bay and include a day of driving in Door County, an area we had wanted to explore for some time. We signed up!

Leaving St. Peters late one evening, we drove for a couple of hours and retired for the night. The next morning we headed north and made a stop in Milwaukee to visit an exhibit of paintings by Georgia O'Keefe, one of Carol's favorite artists. It was an outstanding exhibit, and when we had finished there we headed on to Green Bay.

The first night was registration and a welcoming reception, where we received our instructions for the next day. We were in the third group of 40 cars to depart, so we didn't have to get up too early. Our departure time was 9:00 A.M.

At the starting place, we were given a sheet of driving instructions..."turn left out of the lot and proceed 2.5 miles to Center Street...turn left on Center for 20 miles"...and a "game card" with the locations of 15 "checkpoints" where we would have to get our card stamped to prove we were there. The checkpoints turned out to be charming places where one would want to browse...and we did. At the end of the drive that day, we turned in our gamecards and received a ticket for each of the checkpoints--the tickets would be good for door prize drawings the final evening.

The next day was more of the same, only in a different part of the area. The drive ended at the location for our dinner/door prize affair...the "PolkaDome" in Pulaski, WI. A dinner of brats (what else, in Wisconsin) and all the trimmings preceded the drawing (where we won a coupon for two nights off our hotel bill in Green Bay...whoopee!!!!!!) and entertainment by a polka band (what else). Since we had spent part of the afternoon driving in a fierce rainstorm (complete with some small hail), we were tired and headed back for the hotel, leaving some of the revelers polka-ing away the night.

On Sunday morning all 200 convertibles...top down, of course...paraded through downtown Green Bay en route to the Packer Stadium, where a large tent had been set up on an adjoining parking lot for the final festivities...a few more drawings and a chance to say our good-byes to new friends.

We completed the 10-day odyssey with a visit with one of Carol's friends in western Wisconsin and a stop in Moline to see her mother.

Below are some pics from the "Convertible Classic". Click on a pic to see it full-size.