The fun and excitement definitely heated up today at MINI Takes the States LA, where hundreds of people attended the main festival at the famous Rosebowl in Pasadena.
At the Rosebowl, the MINI-cross opened at 9AM sharp for future MINI Owners to test their motoring skills on the coned course. Meanwhile, current MINI Owners met at the UCLA campus in Westwood for a quick breakfast and meet-and-greet before rallying to the festival. The rally to the Rosebowl took Owners through scenic parts of Socal's Pacific Coast Highway, Topanga Canyon Park, and back through the hills over to Pasadena. At the peak of Topanga Canyon Park, Owners got a chance to reveal the "secret password" to redeem special prizes to take along the way...which was both awesome and fantastic.
Upon arrival at the Rosebowl, the energy amongst the crowd remained high despite the rising temperatures. The local bands rocked the Rolling Stone stage while everyone meandered through the festival grounds, participating in the abundance of games and activities, such as the Euro-bungee, the mechanical bull ride, the sumo-wrestler suits, and the National Geographic rock-climbing wall. For the shoppers in the crowd, there was plenty of cool MINI gear and accessories to pick up in the MINI market area. The animal balloon maker, cartoonist, and tattoo artist kept people of all ages entertained throughout the day. One of the most popular tattoos of the day was the MINI bulldog, which found its home on the biceps of several people. Special thanks to all our sponsors, especially the Smart Water tent making sure everyone stayed hydrated with giving away free ice-cold bottles of H2O.
Jeff Lenosky returned once again to dazzle the crowd with his amazing Mountain Bike stunts, and gave away a fabulous bike cruiser for one lucky winner.
But of course, the most popular activity remained the MINI-cross, where both MINI enthusiasts, MINI Owners, future MINI Owners, and curious-about-MINI seekers raced all of the MINI models through the tight turns and power stretches. Everyone lined up to be the first to take off in the new John Cooper Works model to truly put the pedal to the metal.
Towards the end of an action-packed, scorching hot day, the MINI awards were handed out (special shout-out to Chris & Jess who traveled to all 4 MINI Takes the States events and received the "Road Warrior" honor), and Vertical Horizon closed out the night with some great songs, stories, and a big thank you to all the participants and organizers of MTTS.
We'll be back tomorrow for the last day of MTTS 2008! It's gonna be hard to say goodbye...
(Click on the images to see an enlarged view)
TO SEE A BUNCH MORE GREAT MTTS LOS ANGELES PHOTOS:
Just check out our Official MINI Takes the States gallery on Flickr
AND WE’D LOVE TO SEE YOUR PHOTOS OF THE EVENT TOO!
If you have a Flickr account, you can join the MINI Takes the States 2008 – Los Angeles Flickr group.
Or, you can email shots (or send via your cell phone) to us at losangeles.photos@miniusa.com
Event Highlights
Copyright 2008