Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyler Christopherson
Hi Tyler, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
CARS:
I have loved cars for as long as I can remember. However, I never necessarily wanted to have a career involving cars. I just appreciate the way they sound, the way they look and how much fun they are to drive. In 2008, a friend and I decided to start a little car show at Caribou Coffee on Shady Oak Rd in Minnetonka, MN. We eventually called the event, “MN Cars & Coffee”.
Social media wasn’t really a thing back then, so we had to get the word out about the show via online car forums. (27) to be exact. Our first show (Saturday, May 3, 2008) was a success. We had about (25) cars show up. We had a fun time, so we decided to host the show on the first Saturday of the month going forward (May – Oct). I had a full-time job as a medical device representative, so this was just a part-time deal to hang out with fellow car enthusiasts.
At the time, there weren’t any car shows that welcomed all makes and models of show cars. Most were marque specific. People seemed to like this because our second show brought about (100) cars. The next, (200) cars and we spilled over to the surrounding lots. The property owner kindly asked us to find a new location.
For the next 15 years (and 5 different locations), MN Cars & Coffee grew to be the largest monthly car show in the country. Our largest was the May 7th show of 2022. I had leased 1/2 of Southdale’s parking lot to host the show. I figured it was a new, central location to most, plus, it was just a mile from my house. The weather was perfect, and car enthusiasts were excited to get their cars out of hibernation. What we didn’t expect were the 25K people that showed up. Thousands of show cars came from all over the Midwest. Cars were spilled over into every single parking lot in the area. It was chaotic. That was my one and only show in Edina.
CHARITY:
In February of 2010, My wife and I welcomed our second daughter into our family. Before leaving the hospital to come home, we witnessed Harper fail her newborn hearing screen. Just one ear. The nurses said it was probably due to her being born via Cesarean and having fluid trapped in her ear. They said not to worry and to make an appointment with audiology.
I took the allotted week from work, so I could help with the girls and assist my wife with anything she needed. As we began our new life with a newborn baby and her older sister, we would try to get her to turn her head in response to any noises we made. A few weeks later, my wife took her to that audiology appointment. I didn’t even bother to go because we were certain she could hear us. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking…
My wife called me as soon as the appointment was over. She was crying and very upset. She had failed the hearing test. Now, in both ears. She was deaf.
More alarming, her clinic had contacted us about some irregular blood tests. For the next month, we would take her into the clinic every single morning for blood and urine testing. The University of Minnesota reached out to discuss her results. She had tested positive for Cytomegalovirus (CMV) in utero, a common virus that most of us have been exposed to. They sat us down to share that she will not only be deaf, but she could also be visually impaired, experience seizures, and/or have cognitive delays and disabilities for the rest of her life. We were devastated.
My job was the furthest thing from my mind. My wife’s maternity leave would be expiring soon, and our original daycare plan would no longer work for us. She had a great job at Medtronic, and she carried all our health benefits. I made the easy choice to quit my medical device sales job and stay home with the girls. With daily doctor appointments and unknown future for our baby, having a full-time job was out of the question.
Being a stay-at-home dad was new territory for me. I’m a night owl, so those early 6AM mornings with the girls were difficult. My wife did everything she could before she had to leave each morning. She was unbelievable. Plus, as soon as she’d get home from work, she’d take over. I’d snap out of stay-at-home daddy mode and spend some time working on the car shows. Also, after dozens of doctor appointments, our little girl had passed her eye and cognitive tests!
She was fitted with hearing aids as an infant. She was 100% deaf in her left ear but retained a small fraction of hearing in her right. At 18 months old, we decided to have her implanted with a cochlear implant. Our audiologist at the University of Minnesota told us about a special school that teaches deaf children how to speak and listen using their cochlear implants and hearing aids. It’s called Northern Voices. Located in Roseville, MN, they don’t use sign language to communicate. Only spoken word. As an infant with hearing aids, we did a few sessions there. We’d get so excited when she’d turn her head when presented with a new sound. We had high hopes for her now being outfitted with a cochlear implant.
It took about 6 months for her to recover from surgery and be officially activated with her new implanted hearing device. Now, 2 1/2 years old, she would begin her journey as a full-time student at Northern Voices. They assured us that she’ll be ready to begin kindergarten with her hearing peers at our neighborhood school. At the time, she could only say a couple of words. We were doubtful, but optimistic.
In the spring of 2015, she graduated from Northern Voices. She would begin Kindergarten that fall at our neighborhood school. Her speech was incredible. She was even reading at a higher level than most. We were so grateful to Northern Voices and their staff. We wanted to give back.
Northern Voices is a private pre-school that receives no funding from the state. It relies solely on donations, grants and tuition to operate. We are so fortunate to have a school like this in Minnesota because there are only eight others like it in the country.
I had an idea to do a charity car rally for the school. I thought I could parlay my reach in the local car scene and partner with like-minded car enthusiasts that want to make a difference.
In 1981, the movie, “The Cannonball Run”, was released. I was 6 years old. I saw that movie no less than five times in the theatre. My dad and sister would be in the different theatre, and I’d go watch that movie by myself. I was obsessed. The opening scene of the black Lamborghini Countach outrunning the police still gives me the chills.
To pay homage to my favorite movie, I created The Kannonball Rally in 2015. I had about (40) cars partake in this day-long event filled with various checkpoints and challenges on a designated route. All the cars were outfitted with cool livery kits for their sports cars. It was so much fun, and we were able to raise a few hundred bucks too.
Since then, the Rally has grown to as many as (140) teams and (300) participants on weekend adventures around the Midwest. On July 12th of this year, we celebrated our ten-year anniversary!
I’m pleased to share that we have now donated almost $500K for Northern Voices! And my daughter, now 14 years old, is about to begin high school as freshman. She’s beautiful, smart, creative and has the best sense of humor.
If you’d like more information about the 2025 Kannonball Rally (June), please visit our website at: KannonballRally.com, or the car shows at: MNCandC.com
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The days were long, but the years went by so quickly. I’d give anything to go back to those days of spending the day with my girls.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.KannonballRally.com
- Instagram: @kannonballrally
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kannonballrally
- Other: https://www.MNCandC.com
