FEATURE
The crowd gathers to hear the announcement of the Star of the Show award.
ALEXANDRA BLOSSOMS
Story and photos: David Kinch
THE TRUCKING LANDSCAPE IN NEW ZEALAND IS FOREVER changing, and, with the recent acquisition of Summerland Express Freight, the opportunity to become the major sponsor and organiser of the Alexandra Truck Show on September 24 was a great chance for the team at Booth’s Transport to connect with the people of Central Otago. Organising a truck show is no easy task, but with a great team of people organising prizes and working out the logistics of getting drivers and trucks down to the deep south, the Booth’s team pulled it together nicely as the truck show celebrated its 40th year. With an early start on Saturday morning some of the drivers chose to get in early and park their trucks at the Fulton Hogan yard in Alexandra, which was the venue for the show. Many were cleaning and polishing well into the night. Once the entrants for the Show & Shine started rolling in on Saturday it was very evident the drivers had put a lot of work into their rides and the competition for the “Star of the Show” award 78 | Truck & Driver
was going to be a tough one. Even though the numbers were down on previous years, the judges had a difficult job ahead. The Booth’s barbeque crew was busy cooking sausages and playing music (which added some much-needed atmosphere) and drivers caught up with one another until the judges announced the Booth’s Transport K200 Kenworth (in Summerland colours) driven by Ricky Rodgers from Melx Linehaul Ltd was the “Star of the Show”. The Kenworth had the honour of leading the trucks through the streets of Alexandra as part of the Blossom Festival parade. In my opinion the truck show needs to take advantage of the amount of people already in Alexandra for the annual Blossom Festival celebrations. This would be a great chance to promote the industry in many ways and I’m sure with the involvement of the Booth family this will be achieved. Next year’s 41st annual Blossom Festival Truck Parade will take place on Saturday September 23. T&D
