WAUPUN — The final Waupun Truck-n-Show went out with a bang, hosting over 500 trucks in the competition and parades last weekend.
Registration began on Thursday, with the tent outside of the east door to Rock River Intermediate.
As was tradition, Friday saw the 9PM “Parade of Lights,” and Saturday the 3PM day parade.
The final count was 526 trucks registered in the ‘Show, with many more that were parade-only.
Saturday at noon they held a series of speeches from members of the organization, giving out some early awards and thanking the volunteers who put in so much work to make it happen. This was followed by an auction for the first slots in the parade that afternoon.
The full video of the speeches and first half of auction can be found here: https://waupunpioneer.com/2024/08/11/video-speeches-and-auction-at-the-35th-annual-and-final-waupun-truck-n-show/
One of the speeches during the ceremony was from Mayor Rohn Bishop, who presented the Mayor’s Choice award to Dennis Hilker, owner of Hilker And Sons, a trucking company out of New London that operates a fleet of 25 trucks and 50 trailers. The winning truck was a vintage 1982 Freightliner cabover that was one of Hilker’s earliest trucks, which Mayor Bishop appreciated as a history buff.
“This has been a great 35 years,” Hilker said. “We’ve come to all 35 years and really enjoyed it and are really happy at what’s here. There’s a lot of great people over here in Waupun and we’ve made friends with a lot of them and it’s been a good ride.”
State Assemblyman Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) and primary challenger candidate for the new assembly district Steve Rydzewski were both in attendance, with Rydzewski having a booth in the exposition center.
T-shirts sold out quickly at the stall in the exhibition center but more may be available if there is enough interest for the Committee to put in another order, which they announced in a Facebook post Tuesday afternoon.
