
June 26, 2022- There is a new organization in town, and it’s called Soy City Tuner Club. Soy City Tuner Club is a newly formed group of car enthusiasts in the Decatur Macon County area.
The group’s mission is to bring the community together and give back to the community by supporting local charities.
Each month, Soy City Tuner Club will host Cars for a Cause, and spotlight a local charity. People will come out, with their cars to put on a car show for the community. Members of the community are invited to come out to the event, check out the vehicles, and support the spotlighted charity through donation.
“Bring it to Decatur, make is as big as it wants to be,” Tannya Merriman, Vice President/coordinator said. “Give it the full opportunity to bring families out, to bring cars out, any make, any model, motorcycles, anything with wheels, bring it out. To bring the community back together.That’s the main goal, here. Other than donating to the local charities, of course. The main goal is to bring the community back together.”
Today was the first Cars for a Cause event, and it was held at Central Park. Today’s featured charity was the Macon County Honor Guard. The community was out in full force, as was the Decatur Police Department. Children were treated to rides in the police vehicles. There was a raffle contest, as well as a food vendor.
Fresh off the Juneteenth celebration at the Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater, Vinnie’s Barbee-Q made an appearance as well. Vinnie Barbee, owner of Vinnie’s Barbee-Q, who is a car enthusiast, made sure to bring out one of his cars to show support. Barbee also donated ten percent of today’s proceeds.
Be sure to check out this Fuego podcast interview where Barbee talks about his passions for cars.
The vehicles featured custom street and sports cars, classic cars, motorcycles, and custom trucks. Check out the photo gallery on NowDecatur’s Facebook page.
Merriman was pleased with the turnout and is already looking ahead to next month’s Cars for a Cause event.
“We had people of all walks of life out here, and everyone was getting along,” Merriman said. “I am just so grateful. It was great and everyone was real supportive. People donated, even the people who weren’t here as far as registering their cars or even getting raffles, they just donated.”
The event raised just under 1,000 dollars.
Next month’s Cars for a Cause will be on Sunday, July 31st. Gates open at 3 pm. The entry fee is $10. Humane Society of Decatur and Macon County will be the spotlighted charity. The event will be held at Northgate Shopping Center, located at 2800 N Water St, Decatur, IL 62526
To learn more about Soy City Tuner Club, check out their Facebook page.
Below is the full podcast interview with Tannya Merriman, Vice President/coordinator.