A major day for Mini owners during road-trip stopover in Frederick
Jul. 13—Hundreds of Mini Coopers and their owners gathered on Tuesday at the Frederick Fairgrounds, a stop during a road trip from Burlington, Vermont, to Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina
The road trip, called Mini Takes the States 2022, attracted Mini enthusiasts from across the world. It runs July 9 to 17.
The trip usually happens every other year, but the 2020 trip was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event helps to support Best Friends Animal Society, an animal welfare organization working to help end euthanization of dogs and cats in American animal shelters by 2025.
The event takes drivers through the backroads of the East Coast and serves as a way to "bring the Mini community together," according to Mike Peyton, vice president of Mini USA, the car company. The community surrounding these cars is special, he said.
The cars are usually personalized and represent their owner. No two Minis are exactly alike, Peyton said.
"People name their Minis and you'll have a lot of people talk about their Minis like they're a person because they're an important part of their life," he added.
Susan Gralla has lived in Frederick for eight years and has been driving Mini cars since 2008. Her first car was used, and her second was won at a raffle. Her most recent car, which she bought in December, is named Minnie the Minx, she said.
This was Minnie's first Takes the States but Gralla's sixth. She chose to make "MTTS 22" her license plate registration to commemorate the event. She is doing the full trip from Vermont to South Carolina.
The car is named after a popular British comic strip character whom Gralla describes as the "counterpart to Dennis the Menace." She named the car because it is red and black, the same colors that Minnie wears.
Gralla dressed up as Minnie the Minx, with one slight alteration. Rather than having plain black and red socks, her socks were actually Mini themed. The car company gave socks to participants at the start of the trip.
"They're red and black. How much better could you ask for 'cause the last time we got them they were neon green, so that wouldn't have worked very well," she said.
She said that the social aspect and friendships are part of what draws her to Minis. When traveling with this group, there are always people who know the area and can give specialized tours, she said.
Monday, she took some of her friends on a tour of the area, visiting South Mountain Creamery and Mount Tabor Park, among other locations. She enjoyed showing Frederick off to her friends, she said.
Some Frederick residents decided to join the trip when the Mini parade came to Maryland. Lou Orsini and his daughter, who works for Mini, joined the group in Frederick. They are planning to drive to the second-to-last stop in Asheville, North Carolina.
Orsini started driving his first Mini in 2015. He got his second Mini, a Countryman hybrid named Sheldon Cooper, in 2020. He's working on getting black trim because "it looks awesome," Orsini said.
This was his first time participating in the trip. He was excited to be around people again after being more isolated during the pandemic. He said it will be fun driving through beautiful places.
"It's a rolling party," he said.
Orsini and his daughter haven't taken a road trip together since she was in high school. He hopes this drive will give them a chance to reconnect and talk.
He said it will be tough to resist the urge to continue past the stop in North Carolina.
Others, like Megan Lemmon, who has been living in Frederick County since 2014, are new to the Mini community but already love it. She bought a Mini after her Honda Civic was totaled while she was driving it in September 2021.
Lemmon had always wanted a Mini, so she decided to take the leap and buy one.
She is never going to buy any other car, she said.
She said she likes the features and handling of the car, but they are not her favorite part. The best part of owning her car is the community she found. The people are kind and willing to help each other, Lemmon said.
During this year's trip, she accidentally followed a group of people who were taking a detour. They all stopped together.
"Throughout the pandemic, there's been so much political and social strife, it's really remarkable and really encouraging to see people who are actually kind," Lemmon said.
She is doing the full drive and started it with her dog, Aria. When they came home to Frederick, Lemmon decided to leave Aria, an 8- or 9-year-old rescue pit bull, at home. Lemmon wanted to make sure that Aria stayed safe and healthy.
Lemmon's car is named Lady Grey, after her favorite tea, and features an inflatable flamingo pool toy on the roof whenever she stops. The pool toy is Lemmon's co-pilot while driving, usually sitting in the passenger seat.
"It's been an incredibly transformative experience for me, just restoring my faith in humanity and the sense of independence that comes with being able to go wherever I want to go and making new friendships along the way," she said.
