After 31 years as one of the most popular events in Wellington County, the Fergus Truck Show is no more.
On Feb. 8 show officials announced on Facebook that the show, which in recent years was the largest of its kind on the continent, has been cancelled.
“It is with great regret that the Fergus Truck Show will cease operations effective immediately and will not be hosting any future events,” the Facebook post stated.
“The Board of Directors would like to sincerely thank all of our volunteers, attendees and drivers that have come through the gates for the past 30-plus years. It is with the utmost of gratitude and appreciation that we thank you for your support over these past years.”
Show officials later explained on Facebook they ended the show for a number of reasons, including:
– rising costs, including about $20,000 annually just for security;
– declining support from volunteers and sponsors;
– declining attendance from both trucks and show-goers; and
– a shrinking number of volunteer board members.
Former chief operating officer Wayne Billings was among those saddened by the end of the Fergus Truck Show.
“I laid in bed wiping away tears as I thought of the many memories of the show,” Billings wrote on Facebook.
He paid tribute to “the dream and passion of Sherry Clarke, pulling together a handful of people in the community to make her dream a reality.”
Clarke was visibly shaken one day following the announcement of the show’s dissolution.
“It is very shocking and I am extremely sad,” she said.
“It’s like (for) a part of me, the final closure has come.”
Clarke founded the show in 1986 as a one-time event to raise funds for the Fergus Sportsplex hall addition and to introduce area residents to the trucking industry.
“It was started due to my love of the trucking industry and my love of the community,” Clarke said. “It was a family show and it was just a lot of fun.”
The Fergus Truck Show grew to be North America’s largest truck show. Clarke said at its apex the show welcomed 50,000 visitors and boasted 280 exhibitors, over 600 show and shine entries and about 150 trucks in the pulling competitions.
Over three decades the event, always held on the fourth weekend in July, generated over $80-million dollars in economic benefit for the community.
It was named several times as one of Ontario’s Top 100 Events and also won the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce’s Tourism Impact award.
After 20 years at the helm of the event – either as volunteer president or paid administrator – Clarke stepped down following the 2005 show.
“It was the hardest thing I had ever done,” she said, adding she could not keep up with the time commitment required to run the show.
Clarke told the Advertiser the show’s demise marks “a very sad day for the community.”
She noted the show was a major community fundraising project for dozens of groups that worked in various capacities at the annual event, with over $600,000 in total donated to the groups over three decades.
The trucking industry itself also benefitted from the Fergus show, Clarke said, adding perhaps the show’s greatest legacy was it helped advance the public image of truckers, which wasn’t always the best.
“It let people know truckers were just regular, ordinary people, just like you and I,” she opined.
Clarke said while she’s sad the Fergus Truck Show is over, she is pleased with what it accomplished over three decades.
“There was a lot of laughs and a lot of fun memories,” she said. “Was it worth it? God yes.”
Billings, who worked for the truck show for 24 years, also has good memories of the show.
“I cherish everyone who became part of the Fergus Truck Show Family and consider them a friend,” Billings wrote. “Nobody should ever look at the Fergus Truck Show as a failure, but as a major event that ran its course and its memory will live on forever.”
For the full statement from Fergus Truck Show officials, visit www.facebook.com/FergusTruckShow.
