My tip is if it's even remotely close to where you live...you absolutely MUST go. The events and drives are fun. The Concorso show is fantastic if not for the variety of cars seen, but just the sheer volume of that many Fiats gathered in one place. But "by far" the best part of FreakOut is meeting not just like minded people, but realizing that the vast majority of the kind of folks who love these little cars (both new and old) are really cool, very friendly and the kind of humans that you want to party with, get to know and enjoy their company. I attended my first one last year in Lancaster and despite the fact that I blew my head gasket the 2nd day there (after my morning dyno run) and was essentially "done for the week", I still had a great time. I was overwhelmed with the generosity of guys like Mike Louviere and Shannon Gutierrez, who drove in from Iowa and volunteered to load my car on their trailer, drive it to Concorso, off load it at the show so I could still participate and display my X, load it back up and return my car to the hotel. AND IT WAS THEIR IDEA! Or Elial McGurk who heard about my troubles and sought me out so I could join him in his car during the drive outing that he participated with the other Spyders... and while paused in the middle of the drive he jumps out and tells me to take over driving the second leg of the trip. THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME HE WAS EVER A PASSENGER IN HIS OWN CAR! Or Denise "Spyder Lady" Burchette, who overheard me telling someone how U-Haul screwed me at the last minute and sent a text that the rental center I ordered my trailer from would not have it ready for me on the day I was heading home, and that I would have to pick it up at another location 30 miles away from our hotel! She immediately came up to me and said she and her sister (who were trailering her car back home) would be happy to drop me off at the rental center. When her truck spun a bearing and broke down 10 miles from the U-Haul, she called Hagerty roadside assistance to come pick up the truck, opened the trailer, offloaded her Spyder and drove me the rest of the way to the U-Haul. She left her sister on the side of the road on a 90 degree day with no AC, dropped me off and had to drive another 8 miles or so to the next exit to make a U-Turn and head back to get her sister, before driving back home to North Carolina, in her Spyder!
For what it's worth... I had never met or spoken with any of them until I arrived at the event, they didn't know me from Adam, and still they all helped!
Amazing people! That's what FreakOut is all about!
P.S. Bring a cooler and lots of beer to share with everyone for the late night parking lot parties!
Staying on site allows you to really enjoy that aspect of the FFO. 
