Corvettes event showed what Cape is all about

On Tuesday, Aug. 27, Corvettes of Southeast Missouri, Visit Cape, Old Town Cape, and the City of Cape Girardeau hosted the 2019 Corvettes in Cape event. Four sections of the 2019 Corvette Caravan, from California, Nevada, Utah, the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and even Hawaii and Australia made their last overnight stop, on their way to Bowling Green, Kentucky to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the National Corvette Museum, in Cape Girardeau.

This celebration is held every five years with the last one in 2014 when there were around 350 Corvettes in Cape Girardeau. Because of their positive experience here five years ago, a greater number of caravan groups than ever decided to stop here this year. With such a good experience in 2014 to build on, when it was primarily just a parade and display of Corvettes on Main St. and Water St., we decided to take it up another level. For this year, we extended the downtown activities until 9 p.m. and added two beer gardens, each with a live band, beer and wine sales, several food trucks, and dining arrangements.

Due to the much larger expected attendance with up to 800 or more Corvettes, including around 200 local Corvettes, the City of Cape Girardeau blocked off the entire downtown area, including Main Street, Water Street, and Spanish Street from Broadway to William Street.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department led a parade of 100 local Corvettes from Capaha Park to downtown Cape. The goal of our committee was to have the best Corvette Caravan party of their 2019 trek across the country.

Based on the feedback we received from caravan participants as well as the public, I believe we met and even exceeded that goal.

Everyone who attended had nothing but good things to say about the hospitality offered by the City of Cape Girardeau, the friendliness of our volunteers and their efforts to accommodate whatever needs they had, the huge turnout of local Corvettes, and on and on.

In my opinion, this event epitomized what Cape Girardeau is all about. I could not have been prouder of the way our entire community pulled together to make this event such a huge success. Every one of our local citizens who came out to celebrate with us, to the local news media who went above and beyond to publicize our event, to the City of Cape's police, fire, and park departments who accommodated our every need, all deserve a big thank you.

I would like to give special thanks to the following corporate sponsors whose financial generosity made this event possible: The Isle Casino, Saint Francis Healthcare, Cheekwood Studio, Coad Chevrolet, Drury Hotels, Midamerica Hotels, Plaza Tire, Auto Tire & Parts, Ruopp & Ruopp Dentistry, JCS Wireless, and the Bank of Missouri. I would especially like to thank Visit Cape, Old Town Cape, as well as River City Rodder's, Capaha Antique Car Club, and the Cape Girardeau Police Department, and others who worked diligently on our planning committee to plan each and every detail to make this event possible. KFVS 12, the Southeast Missourian newspaper, KGMO, KZIM, KSIM, Spectrum/Charter, and other local media companies were instrumental in promoting this event both before as well as during the event. Finally, I would like to thank everyone who participated in or attended this event because you all helped make it the great event that it was. With such a successful event this year, I have no doubt the Corvette Caravan will once again stop here in 2024.

Richard Essner is president of Corvettes of Southeast Missouri and Chairperson of the 2019 Corvettes in Cape planning Committee.