Bimmerfest is THE premiere BMW enthusiast gathering on the west coast. It is the brainchild of Jon Shafer, a former sales manager at the Cutter Motors dealership. For the last 10 years, this event has been held each spring in the beautiful city of Santa Barbara, CA. What started as a small gathering of the "Ultimate Driving Machine" enthusiasts, has evolved into a major event with literally 1,000s of BMWs and their owners. Attendees come from all over the United States and Canada to take part in the festivities. Whether they drive here or fly here, they make it any which way they can.

Now, Santa Barbara is only a couple of hours away for me. I've attended seven of the 10 events so far, and I have seen this event grow over the years. And oh has it grown! My first year was back in 2002, when it was held on the Cutter Motors dealership lot. Back then, the event was completely free! Breakfast goodies were provided in the morning. Hot dogs and BBQ were served at and there was a raffle for cool prizes. In between of course, people would mingle with other enthusiasts, check out all the rides, and meet forum members to put a face to their screenname. At the end of the day, would be what I miss the most - the BMW Road Rally. This is where a few hundred Bimmers would roll along in a huge caravan through some gorgeous scenery. Now THAT was amazing!

These days, it isn't free anymore and the Road Rally is officially no more (thanks to the number of participants and a handful of morons). The sheer number of attendees forced the event coordinators to change venues twice. It moved to the Earl Warren Showgrounds for a few years and just recently went to the Santa Barbara Polo Grounds. The event has changed and while there are some things I like and some things I don't, the one thing that remains constant is the enthusiasm that we all share for our cars and what they're capable of.