Subiefest Midwest 2021

After a small hiatus in 2020, Subiefest was back and better than ever this year! While I haven’t made it to many car shows since the lockdown, I was sure as hell not gonna miss Subiefest two years in a row!

As a bonus, my wife and I decided to bring our puppy, Sophie, along for the ride! This meant the family truckster - the Outback - was our vehicle of choice for the drive down. While I was sad to leave the WRX at home, the Outback's Eyesight made the Illinois tollways a breeze as always.

We left later in the day this year, but arrived shortly after lunch. Even though the show had been open for a few hours, it was still jam packed! The parking sea of Subarus was incredible as always!

Right up front, Subaru had a section showcasing a few rare vehicles as well as some of their newest performance cars, like the STI S209 and the 2022 BRZ. They also had an Outback Wilderness and their 2021 rally car for ogling.

Like previous years, they had a wrapped Subaru that we could sign for charity - I left our mark on the front driver’s fender this time!

Sophie got to meet a few of the puppies that the local animal rescue had brought in for adoption!

In the lot behind the show, the Autocross event seemed to be winding down. Considering the temperatures, I can’t imagine it was a great day to be doing track driving!

Further into the show I was impressed to see a variety of new vendors - including Subispeed! Fortunately for my wallet, I managed to make it past their booth without making any impulse purchases…

Subispeed had their show cars on display, and it was awesome to see them up-close! The gray RAYS car in particular has always been a favorite of mine.

My good friend Ernie had his Heritage Blue STI on display at the Grimmspeed booth, so it was a great opportunity to catch up with him and see all the work he had put into his car since the last time I saw it!

The rest of the area was dedicated to the car show itself, and as always there was a huge variety of cars and styles!

One of my favorite cars from this year included this Mad Max-style STI:

And this extremely clean classic SVX:

The owner of the SVX was really friendly, and was even giving out Matchbox versions of his car to kids who said hi!

After walking around for about an hour, my wife, dog, and I were all pretty toasty, so we decided to call it a day and head out early. I did make a pitstop at the Subaru swag booth before leaving though…

Overall, it was another great year and show! Having an opportunity to take a road trip with my wife and our dog was a treat, and it was great to be out and about with other Subaru fans again. We’re already looking forward to next year’s show!