For a lot of drivers, a car is just a car: a useful tool for accomplishing transportation goals. But for some drivers, a car can be a potent statement about identity. Want to signal your outdoorsy eco-friendliness? Reserve a Rivian. Keeping up with

the Kardashians

? Try that Rolls-Royce dealership down the street.

Many

Subaru

owners take car identity to the next level. And for them, it’s not just about individual style, it’s about community.

Jerry

, the

car ownership super app

looks at Subiefest, the annual gathering of Subaru enthusiasts that might just convince you to buy that Forester.

Subiefest: The basics

Subiefest, a coinage that can only denote extreme cuteness, began in 2006 in Southern California’s Santa Anita Park. Originally a “track day for Subaru owners,” according to

Subaru Drive

, this little word-of-mouth local meetup has since evolved into a multi-city event that plays host to thousands of Subaru owners and fans.

A typical Subiefest is a bit like a state fair, except instead of horse racing you get rallycross, and the booths along the way offer performance parts, not giant stuffed animals. Subaru owners from all around drive their decked out, souped-up Subies to the festival, where they can display them to the public and then wander off to try out the driving simulator.

For Subie drivers with a competitive bent, there are contests your car can enter. Designations include Best Old School Pre-1995, Best Legacy & Outback 89-99, Best Offroad/Rally, Best Paint, Best Interior, and, if you’re struggling with classification, Best Other. Awards are modest in monetary value—California Subiefest offers $25 or $50 gift certificates to an autoshop, plus a trophy—but claiming a place in Subiefest history has to be priceless.

The best of Subiefest YouTube

Like any phenomenon that has evolved in this first quarter of the 21st century, Subiefest has been meticulously chronicled on YouTube. These recordings are mostly amateur, and they capture slices of happy and jam-packed events.

One video of Subiefest Midwest 2021 takes a trip through the parking lot, where drivers lovingly wiping their vehicles down, multicolored headlights flash, and Subie dogs do their investigative sniffing. We see some daring driving between cones, and at least one marriage proposal. The whole thing has an aura of pure joy.

Midwest 2022 videos amp up the excitement, with the signing of cars and the appearance of celebrity skater and rallycross driver Bucky Lasek, who stirs up the crowd with a T-shirt cannon shaped like a turbocharger.

Another 2021 video, this time from Subiefest California, is mostly one woman’s methodical walk-through of the displayed cars, the vast majority of which have been given some kind of makeover. A few are given ratings, which are based on an unknown rubric but feel intuitively correct—when she gives an “A+/10” to a gorgeous teal WRX, and an 8/10 to what looks like a Funfetti-dipped Forester, you can’t help but agree.

Almost every single car has an Instagram or Twitter handle prominently displayed, some as window decals, some written on the props that ensure full view of engines and turbochargers. These are artists, and Subies their canvas.

And it isn’t just the masses who share their content—Subiefest celebrity Bucky Lasek took his own spin around Subiefest Florida 2021. He films the exhaust competition, during which crowds stand around and cheer for a car as it revs up over and over again, making seductive engine noises and spewing exhaust (sorry, environment).

He then walks around and chats with the locals, who are clearly a bit starstruck by their interviewer but eager to share their Subie stories. Many are lifelong Subaru drivers who go to great lengths to track down old models and restore them piece by piece. Facebook marketplace is revealed multiple times as a go-to for hard-to-find car parts.

Lasek gets to drive one old model, a Subaru Justy, with its owner in the passenger seat, and both are clearly smitten by the car.

Subiefest world is a curious utopia: famous drivers and regular joes just hanging, enjoying an old Subaru.

MORE:

2023 Subaru Solterra Colors and All the Other Info You Should Know

A uniquely Subaru phenomenon

Subiefest is an exceptional achievement for the Subaru brand. Though the company does sponsor the event, it has none of the smarminess of typical corporate attempts to get in good with consumers.

The wild enthusiasm and creativity of Subiefest attendees is uncontainable, and every year Subaru wisely gets out of the way and lets the incidental brand ambassadorship unfold. Lowriding BRZs and resurrected Bajas do more to tell the story of a happy Subaru owner than any advertising campaign could.

By the way, you can still go to Subiefest even if you don’t own a Subaru. But maybe now you’ll want to.

If you need

car insurance

for your Subaru, check out

Jerry

. It’s the easiest and most effective way to find affordable car insurance quotes.

Are you overpaying for car insurance?

Compare quotes and find out in 45 seconds.

Try Jerry