In the summer of 2003, Dominic Tuso and Andrew Ross started talking about organizing a group drive for about 10 to 20 of the Arizona MINI Owners to visit Las Vegas for a weekend of fun and relaxation. By the time the drive happened in February of 2004, it had snowballed to a national event with MINIs and Minis coming from all over the US, as well as attention from other countries, and somewhere over 200 cars attending (we never did get an accurate count).
That was A MINI Vacation In Vegas. The original. It was such a success and so much fun, that there was an immediate call to start planning a sequel event. After some intense volunteering, it was decided that the Sin City MINI Club would coordinate the 2005 event, A MINI Vacation In Vegas II (aka AMVIV2). AMVIV2 happened in early March of 2005 and was bigger and better than the original, so we started planning AMVIV3 a couple of months after it ended.
To try to get some better weather and to ensure that a track day could occur, AMVIV3 moved to the end of March, 2006. The end result was over 300 cars and a fantastic event that was a huge hit in the MINI community.
AMVIV4 was March 22 – 25th, 2007 and built on the previous success. The final count was just under 500 MINIs and Minis, and the event has become known as one of the biggest and funnest MINI events in the world.
In 2008, AMVIV5 ran from March 27 – 30th (the weekend of the last Sunday in March, as usual) and attracted 572 MINIs and Minis.
March 26 – 29th, 2009 was AMVIV6. Due to the mess going on in the economy, attendance was down a little from 2008, but pretty close to the turnout for 2008 at 478 MINIs and Minis with 230 on the Strip Cruise.
AMVIV Lucky Number 7 ran from March 25th to 28th, 2010 and moved to the beautiful Aliante Station Hotel and Casino. Attendance slipped a little bit more this year, but attendees were treated to amazing service at a beautiful location and were entertained by a new offering – White Roof Radio – Live Under the White Roof.
Planning for AMVIV8 is underway. We’re moving back to Palace Station and working on an event schedule that will have a little bit for everyone! Hope to see you there!
Event Coordinator write-ups from each of the previous events
2008 – By Andrew Ross AKA Agro | 2007 – By Andrew Ross AKA Agro | 2006 – By Andrew Ross AKA Agro | 2005 – By Andrew Ross AKA Agro | 2004 – By Dominic Tuso
Magazine articles about AMVIV
2007 – MotorTrend.com – by Melissa Spiering
2006 – MotorTrend.com – by Melissa Spiering
Online only media coverage of AMVIV
2008 video from AMVIV 5 – by Ladd Pagan
2007 and earlier video for promoting AMVIV 5 – by Ladd Pagan
2007 “AMVIV4 Video Diary” – by Califzeph