For more than two decades, the Iowa 80 Truckstop outside of Walcott, Iowa, has proven that truck shows can be fun without being huge. This year’s Truckers Jamboree, on July 12-13, was no different.

In addition to the Super Trucks competition, antique truck display, pork chop cookout and live country music, the event featured Trucker Olympics and, for the first time, a pet contest in which entrants – all dogs this year – won prizes for doing tricks, dressing well or looking like their owners. Fred Forcelle of Montgomery, Minn., entered his large plastic wolf, Buck. Although the judges awarded him nothing for his effort, he was a favorite with the audience.

The Trucker Olympics was also a crowd pleaser. It included water balloon volleyball, tug-of-war and a strong-man truck pull that involved a 1928 International cement mixer, a rope and as much muscle as participants could muster. Several drivers were successful in towing the hulk a short distance, but most simply grunted and wondered aloud if the truck was loaded.

Heather DeBaillie, Iowa 80 Group marketing manager, says an estimated 25,000 people visited the 2001 Jamboree. “That’s about average,” she says. There were more than 150 antique trucks on display – the oldest being a 1910 Avery owned by the Iowa 80 Group – and about 150 exhibitors under the big-top tent and in smaller open-air tents outside. DeBaillie says the truckstop ordered 7,000 special-cut pork chops for the festivities, but that amount almost didn’t stretch across the collective appetite of those attending. Roughly 6,000 pork chops were prepared last year.

Part of the increase could be attributed to the weather. Although rain had been predicted for the first day, none appeared. In fact, sunny skies, mild temperatures and a constant breeze prevailed throughout the two-day show.

As always, the Super Trucks competition provided a wealth of Kodak moments, as local residents mixed with long-haul truckers to capture images of highly polished chrome, exotic paint schemes and brilliant light displays. DeBaillie says 65 trucks competed this year, about 20 fewer than in past years. Eric Harley of the Midnight Cowboy Trucking Radio Network announced the winners at the Jamboree’s conclusion.