The public portion of the 2013 Chicago Auto Show ran Feb. 8-18.

This was the first time since 1998 that the show was open to the public on a Saturday. Show organizers decided to shift the dates for 2013 to take advantage of the Presidents Day holiday.

The Chicago Auto Show's black-tie benevolent event, First Look for Charity, took place Friday, Feb. 8, and raised $2.2 million. "It's a move our charities have asked for and it will, no doubt, increase attendance at one of Chicago's most popular charity events," said 2013 Chicago Auto Show Co-Chairman Kurt Schiele in a statement.

For the eighth straight year, consumer voters proclaimed their favorites in five categories in the Chicago Auto Show's "Best of Show" balloting.

In voting conducted over the 10-day public run of the nation's biggest auto show, winners in the contest's five categories were:

—Best All-New Production Vehicle: 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray (36 percent of vote)

—Best Concept Vehicle: Chevrolet "Turbo" Camaro (27 percent of vote)

—Best Green Vehicle: Fisker Karma (24 percent of vote)

—Best Exhibit: Jeep (27 percent of vote)

—Vehicle I'd most like to have in my driveway: 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

GM holds LGBT Auto Show briefing

On Feb. 17, General Motors (GM) hosted the LGBT press at a Chicago Auto Show briefing. Joe LaMuraglia, GMC communications manager, stressed two aspects of GM's operation.

He said that, first, it's a gay-friendly company. Both LaMuraglia and Kevin Kelly, PR representative for the electric vehicle team also in attendance, are out on the job and comfortable with their work situation. Secondly, LaMuraglia extolled GM's environmentally friendly, "green cars": the electric Chevy Volt and the Cadillac ESL.

Marty Padgett of High Gear Media; Ben Timmons, associate web editor at Automobile Magazine; and Casey Williams of Gaywheels.com also spoke. All praised of the 2014 Corvette, which they said delivers muscle-car power at a "reasonable" $75,000 price. They also noted the Cruze diesel, the Ford Atlas, and the Mercedes concept car are worthy of attention. Text by Chuck Kramer