Participation was great! Weather was awful. 23 hybrids were there overall (from 10:00 to 4:00), but so was the rain & snow. There was also a car converted to Electric, a FFV (Flexible Fuel Vehicle), and a promotional vehicle for low sulfur gas. Plus, the public was invited. This gathering was quite unique.
A Toyota dealer had 3 Prius available for test-drives. That made things really weird. I'm so used to getting really excited whenever I see a Prius on the road. Having 1 drive by every few minutes caused me to learn restraint quickly.
A Honda dealer had 2 Insights and 2 Civic-Hybrids there. 1 of each was available for test-driving. The Insight only got used a few times, but that Civic-Hybrid was running almost constantly. I saw that new looks-like-a-traditional-vehicle hybrid drive by so many times I will now be able to spot it in traffic fairly easy from the front.
Owners showed true Minnesota spirit. 2 Insights and 14 Prius stopped by, despite the horrible weather. 9 went out of their way to pose their hybrids for some photos, the rest were busy participating in other parts of the Expo. We really appreciate the help everyone was able to offer. Each did their part to make the experience enjoyable. Naturally, there was a lot of story swapping among the owners. Hearing all that is becoming even more fun now with mileage becoming more diverse. An owner had a Prius with only 868 miles on it, mine had 30,074 miles. And I can't imagine how exciting it was for the public attending. Seeing a parking lot filled with hybrids, then having a dealer offer the opportunity for a test-drive, must have been incredible.
The weather was, well... absurd. We started with very cold rain. The few of us controlling traffic got soaked, but seeing so many hybrids kept us feeling good. Around 1:00 we setup for the photos. It dried out just in time, but got even colder. The pleasant attitude continued though. That excitement was surprising, you'd think the fact that it was a warm & beautiful the day before would make this disappointing. Then it got worse. It started to snow! When the white nasty stuff started to build up on the windshields, we decided it was time to thank everyone and head out. Hours later the ground was completely covered with snow. Whoa!
So now we've had one gathering where we froze and one where we melted. Do you think we'll be able to plan the next with weather somewhere in between those two extremes?
Thank you to everyone that attended.
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