BREAKIN’ RECORDS IN BROOKS
ANNUAL OREGON TRUCK SHOW HAS RECORD TURNOUT
For eighteen years, the Oregon Trail Chapter of the ATHS and the Pacific NW Truck Museum have hosted a fun truck show in Brooks, Oregon. Over the years, the show has transformed from just a simple antique truck display to one of the premier trucking events in the Pacific Northwest. And even though this is still a non-competitive event (there is no formal judging or trophies), the 2010 show, held on August 28th, had a record turnout of 226 trucks - about 136 antiques and 90 newer rigs.
Having heard that this was a great little show, we decided to head up to Oregon to check it out for the first time. The way the show is laid out, the antique trucks are all parked together on one side, and the working trucks are all on the other. Our booth was with the newer trucks, but also very near to the antiques - it was a great location! Our thanks go out to Frank Merrill, the truck show chairman, for taking such great care of us while there.
Knowing that the Oregon/Washington region is hungry for their 10-4 Magazines, we brought tons of stuff to give away - and by the end of the day, we were out of everything! Our booth, which was surrounded by some of the hottest rigs from the Pacific Northwest and a bunch of past cover trucks, was one of the busiest areas of the show. To our right was James Davis’ orange and black Peterbilt and Rod Pickett’s 1977 Peterbilt 359 (which doesn’t get out much anymore); in front of our booth was our September 2010 cover truck owned by Jeff Zonneveld, along with our buddy Bryan Welsh’s amazing A-model and Kooy’s mini Kenworth; to the left of us was a row of awesome combos owned by Jeff Barnes (the truck on our cover this month), Jeff Houts (our April 2010 cover truck), Barry Skavlem, Trucker Ron, Jim Oldland and Cliff King (our August 2010 cover). It was quite the spread!
Running our booth for the day was a dedicated group of six kids, which allowed us to walk around, take pictures and talk to people without worrying about having to hang around the booth all day. We can’t thank these kids enough. They were Taylor Welsh (10), Taylor Hamlin (10), Taylor Jobe (9), Lexi Davis (9), Cody Jobe (7) and Rebecca Zonneveld (15). Chet & Trista Jobe, owners of KAT Transportation in Eugene, OR (and the parents of two of the kids) made sure that they behaved and did their job when we weren’t around.
The main sponsor of the event is Esley Truck Accessories, which just happens to be located directly across the street from where the show is held. Debbie and her crew, along with some help from a few of her suppliers, had a large area set up at the front of the show and not only sold some accessories, but also raffle tickets. Attendees at the show could buy raffle tickets for a chance to win various prizes, and for each ticket purchased, they also got to vote on their favorite truck at the show (these are the only three trophies given out at the show and they are all simply People’s Choice - no judging). The three winners this year were John Peterson, Rick Mallorie and Mike McPherson. All of the money collected from the raffle went directly to Shriners Hospitals for Children - and this year, they raised almost $1,700!
When it was time for lunch, the folks from Ram Trucking, with some help from the Van Dyke family, served up free BBQ with all the fixins’ for anyone who wanted. Our friend and August 2010 cover truck owner Cliff King also fired up his truck-side grill (which pulls out of a toolbox on the side of his truck) and cooked us up some tasty steaks and corn-on-the-cob. That was one of the best meals we’ve had at a truck show - thanks, Cliff!
Admittedly, we were a little hesitant to travel all the way to Oregon for just a one-day show, but in the end, we were sure glad we did. It was without a doubt one of the best shows we have attended this year. The antique trucks were amazing and the working trucks were phenomenal! It was a fantastic collection of pristine work trucks - real working trucks - not “sort of” work trucks (most of them were actually sitting at the show loaded with freight for Monday morning deliveries). Again, we’d like to thank everyone who made us feel so welcome, the cool kids that ran our booth, and to the participants and attendees that picked up all of our magazines. We can’t wait until next year, and hope to see even more of you there!