The 2012 Owner/Operator of the Year is Harvey McDonald. I had the pleasure of presenting Harvey the award along with our sponsors, Goodyear, Castrol and Mack during the latest edition of the Fergus Truck Show. Harvey won the award with some pretty impressive stats. He’s been behind the wheel for over 50 years and logged over four million accident-free miles. In addition, he’s a volunteer, goes out of his way to help total strangers, and is one of the most kind-hearted individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.

We really appreciate the opportunity to present our award at the show, and I’d like to thank the organizers for giving us the time during the Friday night truck pulls to take centre field.  

As for the show itself, it was down in terms of vendors and attendance.

Although the cost of admission was lowered this year, it still wasn’t cheap. People paid $10 to park their car in the adjoining farmer’s field and $28 to walk through the gate. For a family of four that’s $122 for the day – a lot of money by anyone’s standard.

The show’n’shine was also down in numbers but as one passerby mentioned, it’s still the largest in the area and attracts some very, very cool rigs.

The show organizers are all volunteers. As such, my hat goes off to them. Putting together a show of this size is not an easy task. Instead of picking holes in their efforts, I’d like to relay some of the suggestions I heard over that weekend on how to bring it back to its glory years.

First and foremost, stop charging an arm and a leg for entry. How about giving an A/Z or D/Z holder a family admission discount? That way, they’d attract the people the show is meant for.

Next, establish booth space discounts for trucking-related vendors. Sure, allow the food vendors to set up, but they pay full price. The meat and potatoes of any truck show should be the trucking-related vendors. Dealers, suppliers, service providers – all would benefit from a more affordable entry fee and they’d come back.

Bring back the show’n’shine participants by lowering the cost. Maybe they could take a page from the Clifford show?
They all have one thing in common. It’s not rocket science guys and gals. Let’s get back to reality before it’s too late.