Our annual EIM entry in the Swamp Fox Festival Parade in Marion is just around the corner.

We are honored and delighted this year to have Sevyn C. (daughter of EIMers Brian and Cora C.) representing us in the parade as our 2010 Miss Eastern Iowa MINIs!

As a reminder to those who have signed up, our rendezvous time and location is at 8:30 am at the car wash located at the intersection of South 11th Street and Grand Avenue in Marion. We suggest you come a bit earlier to have adequate time to clean and decorate your MINI.

All of the detailed times for the day–and other important information–can be found in a planning post in our companion NAM Discussion Thread (<–link). You’ll want to make sure to check this out.

Our fearless leader for the day Larry H. might still have a free spot or two remaining in our entry, so if you’re interested please contact him at the email address provided at the link above. If you’re not entered in the parade, we’d still love to have you come out to cheer us on and join us for the Festival downtown after the parade!

For the third consecutive year, EIM plans to take over the town of Holy Cross, IA for the annual Holy Cross Parade, Festival, and Street Dance!

Our MINIs will be lined up at 10:30 am on Saturday, August 14th to prepare for the start of the parade at noon. We’ll have a car wash station set up for early arrivals who want to spruce up. The time line and locations may be found after the jump (more…) below.

Our local EIM hosts Linda and Tom R. have once again graciously invited all of us MINI folk and their families to come to their house after the parade for wonderful food, drink, and fellowship. Take a peek at their newly remodeled, MINI-themed bathroom — that’s worth the trip alone! There will also be a variety of outdoor and indoor games available, and we’ll be right across the street from the heart of the Festival for those who want to take in the charity auction, music, and other offerings.

Feel free to follow the preparatory discussion in our associated NAM Discussion Thread (<–link)

Finally, RSVPs — either using the link in the Event Calendar Entry (<–link) or by commenting on this post using the comments link above — are greatly appreciated so our hosts can plan for the number of guests.

The kids just love MINIs on parade!

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The Quad Cities British Auto Club (QCBAC) will be hosting their annual Heartland British Autofest Days on Saturday and Sunday, August 7th and 8th in Davenport.

Our good motoring buddy Mike C. won both the Best in Class and Best Overall Wheels awards with his awesome MINI at this event last year. We’d like to see even more of our MINIs participating this year!

This event includes a leisurely drive on Saturday starting at 3:00 pm, followed by a group dinner. Sunday is the car show, with car registration and clean up between 9:00 am and noon; voting between 1:00 and 2:00 pm; and the awards presentation at 3:00 pm. There is much more information about this event after the jump (more…) below and via the QCBAC Website (<–link).

Please note that advance registration by mail to QCBAC is required for this event. The registration form may be accessed using the following link: Heartland British Autofest Days Entry Form.

Also note that there is a modest registration fee ($15 if submitted prior to August 1st).

EIM discussion and plans can be tracked by monitoring the NAM Discussion Thread (<–link)

See you in Davenport!

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How many MINI Coopers can you fit on a ferry boat that usually holds 9 “regular” cars?

Come join us on Saturday, July 24th and find out!

The EIM Cassville Ferry Crossing and Drive starts and finishes in Dubuque, IA. Our rendezvous time is 9:15 am at the Port of Dubuque. Highlights include the following:

- Crossing the mighty Mississippi on the Cassville Ferry
- Lunch at the trendy Potosi Brewing Company in Potosi, WI
- Fun country twisties between Potosi and Beetown, WI
- Time permitting, explore Cable Car Square in Dubuque
- Dinner at the Town Clock Inn in Dubuque

There are more details after the jump (more…) below. Additionally, if you navigate to our corresponding NAM Discussion Thread (<–link) you’ll be able to download a PDF file with detailed times, route descriptions, and links to route maps and most of the establishments we plan to visit.

Those on NAM can help with our headcount by clicking on the RSVP link in our Event Calendar Entry (<–link)

Kudos to David V. for all of the hard work to plan this event.

We will be looking for you!

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Join us for an evening of Iowa MINI fun at the EIM Dinner and 61-Drive In Theater to be held on Saturday, June 5th in Maquoketa. We’re planning for a 5:00 pm dinner bell at the historic Decker Hotel and Restaurant followed by a short drive to the 61-Drive In Theater for the evening’s featured movies. Bring your blanket for relaxing, games, etc. prior to the movie, and a portable radio to listen to the show.

Those with NAM accounts please sign up here —> EIM Event Calendar Entry — or just leave a comment to this website posting if you don’t have a NAM account. We’d like to be able to give the restaurant an accurate count prior to our arrival.

More info available (more…). See you there!

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Eastern Iowa MINIs extends its thanks to Willis Auto Campus for hosting our group at their Corridor Premiere Event in Coralville on Monday, May 3rd. We had a great turnout of people and MINIs, a fact appreciated by both the Willis staff and the admiring public. It was fun showing off our MINIs and being an integral part of the event. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Thanks to all for coming out and waving the EIM flag for us!

Some photos from the event for you to enjoy are posted in the Gallery or accessible directly using the following link:

Photos from the Willis Corridor Premiere Event of 5-3-2010

Here is a link to Facebook photos and video clips courtesy of the Willis Auto Campus staff: WAC Corridor Premiere Event Multimedia

Stay tuned to news updates from Willis Auto Campus on their progress establishing the new MINI franchise at http://www.willisautocampus.com

Good eatin’ and fun times ahead in the Quad Cities!

The inaugural EIM MINI-ssippi Eats and Sweets will be hosted on Saturday, May 22nd and represents a great opportunity for our group to finally explore and enjoy downtown Moline, IL.  Sincere thanks to Linda and Gary S. for their great help in setting up this event!

Here is the list of activities:

10:30 am – Arrive at the River House Bar and Grill in Moline
(park together on east side of the block, take pics, socialize)
11:00 am – Lunch (private room upstairs for our group; order off the menu)
12:15 pm – Depart in groups for visits to the Deere Pavillion and/or Isabel Bloom as desired
1:30 pm – Riverfront stop for pictures
2:15 pm – Dessert and more socializing at Whitey’s Ice Cream Parlor

Those with NAM accounts please sign up here —> EIM Event Calendar Entry

All others may sign up here —>  Post a Comment.  This includes any new local MINI enthusiasts (who we warmly welcome!).

Other associated reference links, addresses, and phone numbers available after the jump. This will be a fun and relaxing outing. Hope to see you there!

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The EIM Border Skirmish Drive is a twisty motoring event in the scenic bluff country of NE Iowa and SE Minnesota, starting and finishing in the picturesque town of Decorah. This drive is planned for Saturday, April 17th.

Meet up time is 9:15 am at the Decorah Trout Hatchery, which is located in Siewers (pronounced ‘SEE-verz’) Spring State Park off of Trout Run Road about a mile south of town. Our lunch stop is Doc’s Blue Moose Restaurant in Spring Grove, MN. We should arrive for lunch around 11:30 am and plan for an hour stop. We expect to finish the drive at approximately 3:15 pm in Decorah, where we’ll have some dessert and refreshment and can recap the day’s fun times. We’re also expecting some local press coverage of our arrival.

Please bring along your GMRS/FRS radios if you have them.

Sign-ups may be made on the NAM EIM Event Calendar entry or, alternatively, by leaving a comment here using the comments link next to the post date above. There is also a detailed route map with times, waypoint coordinates, road descriptions, and other things to look for in our associated NAM Discussion Thread.  This should be accessible to everyone.

Get ready to motor!

A big thanks to everyone who was able to come out and join us for this event. What a great showing of folks! It was wonderful catching up after the long winter hibernation.

Pictures are posted in the Gallery along with all of our prior events — or you may access them directly using the following link:

Photos from the 3rd Annual Spring has Sprung Meet-n-Eat in Cedar Rapids 3-27-2010

A hearty EIM welcome to Judy and Jim, Jerry and Nancy — and their MINIs too of course!

Hooray for Willie and Harvey…such worthy additions to the EIM stable!

Special thanks again go to Jim, Dave, Kelly, Aaron, Terry, and Nick from Willis Auto Campus for coming out and joining us. It was great to hear about all of the plans being undertaken to support the new MINI franchise. Hope we get the chance to see you all again soon — we’ll stay tuned for the gathering at the Coralville Marriott on April 26th. Thanks for adding your MINIs to our gaggle for the day!

See you soon.

Come celebrate Spring with us — and the impending motoring season — along with great food and MINI fellowship at our 3rd Annual “Spring has Sprung” Meet-n-Eat. It will be hosted on Saturday, March 27th at the Granite City Restaurant in Cedar Rapids. Rendezvous time in the restaurant parking lot is 10:30 am.   (This event was originally planned for the 20th but was rescheduled due to weather.)

We expect the fine folks from Willis Auto Campus in Des Moines to join us. For those who don’t know yet, they have been awarded the very first MINI Cooper franchise in the State of Iowa. They’re ready to answer your questions about the new franchise.

Details including times, address, phone, map, and links for restaurant info and RSVP sign-up, are available in the EIM Event Calendar Entry on NAM.  Let us know you’re coming so we can arrange sufficient seating.

If you’re new to our group or don’t yet have a NAM identity, you can RSVP by simply leaving a comment using the comments link above.