The organization held a meeting Saturday morning to start preparations for this year’s show, discussing preliminary plans for the entertainment and cooperation with the City. One of the primary discussion topics was whether to plan on continuing the show into the future, which resulted in a unanimous vote to make this year the final Truck-n-Show in Waupun.
The primary reason for the decision was over a lack of new volunteers, with many of the current members of the organization having served on the board for decades.
“The decision was not an easy one to make nor was the decision taken lightly,” the post said. “We all have such fond memories of the show thru the past 35 years and it will be hard to not to see it continue, but with no help/volunteers and many of our members wanting to retire with the show too, it was the decision that was the best fit. We have been struggling for years for more members but it hasn’t been enough.”
Talks about retiring the Truck-n-Show have been ongoing for the better part of a decade, but they solidified in 2022 when the committee faced a membership crisis following the retirement of long-time members and the passing of one of the show’s founders, Ron Vande Zande.
While the committee was able to commit to one more year in 2023, they are still struggling with the same issues almost a year and a half later. Long-time members want to retire, and there were too few new members to take up the mantle.
“It was a hard decision, but it had to be made,” said Nancy Kutschenreuter, vice president of the Truck-n-Show Committee. “And it’s going to be a sad day—nobody wants to see it go—but it’s going to be a celebration for all the years that we had together. It will be a huge celebration and we want everyone to be a part of it.”
“We’re getting a lot of feedback asking us to keep it going, but we can’t do that anymore,” she said. “Most of us have been doing it for so long, and the trucking industry has been changing so it’s not the same as it used to be. That all being said, it’s time for us to retire from the show after these 35 great years.”
While this will be the last year of the Truck-n-Show for the committee, the volunteers are committed to making this the best year ever.
This year’s Truck-n-Show will be held the second weekend of August, the 9th and 10th.
