By Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – One of the largest Corvette shows in the world is returning to its roots in the Twin Cities.

At a press conference on Tuesday, The Bloomington-Normal Area Convention and Visitors Bureau announced the national event is returning to Bloomington for the 50th anniversary and the first time since 1973.

“We’re very excited about having 15,000 visitors coming into the area, and the economic impact that brings with it, which is well over a million dollars,” Crystal Howard, President and CEP of the Bloomington-Normal Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, told WJBC News. “But it’s also important to note that this is good for the community as well to get out and enjoy a show outside and be able to participate in a parade of corvettes and be able to see them in town. And also to participate in a party we’re having in Uptown Normal, so all of those events our community can participate in, and we want our community to welcome the corvettes, so they come back again and again.”

Since 2015, Bloomington Gold has been held in Indianapolis, Indiana at Lucas Oil Stadium. Bloomington Gold President Guy Larsen said the event would be a blast from the past.

“So we’re tying back to how things were. We’re going to do a road tour on part of the road that we did road tours on 30-years ago. And then we will make t-shirts about 1980-something versus now. Just kind of tie it all together; I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The event will be hosted at Redbird Arena, Horton Fieldhouse, and the Brown Ballroom at Illinois State University on June 10-11, 2022.

Bloomington Gold is open to the public, and 15,000 people are expected to attend the show; and the estimated direct economic impact of Bloomington Gold is over $1 million.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].