What started off as just a sunday morning fitment meet, quickly turned into a fitment meet series. I wanted to create something more than just a place for people to gather. Something that is more like an experience of car culture with a competitive twist.
What sets our fitment meets apart from the rest is that, for the best overall vehicle that would attend these meets, I would personally give an award to that person. That award we dubbed the "Award of Excellence" and by receiving this award, the winner was also invited to the big bang show to close the season, we called "The Ultimate Fitment Championship".
Whether it was a Sunday Morning Fitment Meet or a Monday Night Fitment Meet, there were plenty of opportunities to earn a free ticket into the big show. Leading up to the big show, I noticed the quality of vehicles showing up started to go up at our mini meets. Which meant the competition was heating up and only the best of the best will be attending the Ultimate Fitment Championship.
Organizing and executing such an event is by no means an easy task. This one, I felt that I could pull it off on my own. So once the idea of this fitment meet series turning into one big championship event came to fruition, I had to get the ball rolling asap.
One of the most important things to get done first is to secure a location. I originally wanted to do this event in mundelein. I made a proposal and sent it in. After speaking with lot owners, local business owners and the city manager, everyone seemed excited and onboard.
What looked like smooth sailing for the lot requested, was quickly hit by a hurricane of bad news. The property owner, which was the bank, decided that my little car event was too much of a risk to have on their property. So with just over a month till the show date(which we already announced) I had no location secured. I was disappointed but honestly appreciate the help and kindness the village of mundelein offered me.
As you can imagine, I was like "WTF am I going to do...?!?!" This is when the stress level went through the roof and I had to act decisively. So I reached into my network and decided to bring the Ultimate Fitment Championship home, bring it back to elgin.
Since it's my name that is on the PGP applications, I felt that I would have a better chance here for an approval. The success of PGP is what established the great relationship I have with the city of Elgin. So there was a moment in time during the promotion of UFC where I had no venue secured but I had to keep it cool and keep the faith. Elgin came through for your boy and I was excited for this location.
Shortly thereafter, the application was approved and I was super stoked for the new location. The Riverside Drive Promenade was recently built in downtown elgin and highlights downtown elgin and especially the riverwalk along the fox river leading to festival park and the casino. Truly epic scenery which made for such a photogenic event.
Now the time to go full steam ahead is now. Booking all the artist, securing a stage and getting all the promotional materials filled my honey do list. With only a couple weeks to the event at this point, the pressure was definitely on. Also, 100plus goody bags for all the registered guest had to be made. Basically I had a lot to do in a little amount of time.
Finally the day of the event dawned upon us and I got no sleep and I was super nervous. This bad b*tch called mother nature had to rain on my parade. Fortunately, the rain held off for the most part of the set up time and we were able to at least get the big pieces in place.
Once the cars and vendors started to roll in, the heavens opened up and the clouds began to purge themselves. For the next 2 hrs it poured and everyone took shelter in their cars. Which I take as a hidden blessing because whatever that was going on in those cars, everyone was in such an amazing mood once the rain stopped.
At about 5:30pm the rain stopped and the music started. At this moment, a rainbow appeared over the top of all of us. I took this as a sign of the good things that were about to come. With Moore on stage opening the show, the event was underway.
I could finally exhale with a sigh of relief, and watch everyone enjoying the show. Despite the rain keeping spectators at bay, the event had an invite only/V.I.P type of feel to it. A very exclusive premium automotive gathering for my peers or simply a bad a$$ party for my friends is what we delivered.
To everyone that attended, battled the elements and enjoyed the show, to me; you are all champions even though you may not have left with a belt. Thank you very much.
Special thanks and shout out to our event sponsor Scrape Artist for supplying all the stickers in the goody bags.
Thank you for the memories that will last a lifetime. So many people deserve recognition like jason and his family, Derek with the sound and so many others for their help. I seriously couldn't of done it without you guys. Enjoy our bonus images and a special set with our beautiful Fitment Girl, Miss Jenny K Walter.
Here is our featured Fitment Girl, the beautiful Miss Jenny K Walter
