I’ve been traveling to the state of Wisconsin for over 55 years now. It’s a state famously known for the Wisconsin Badgers. Curiously, in all my years of Wisconsin travel, I’ve never seen a badger! I recently had the opportunity to attend the Badger State Truck’n Show held at the Badger State Steam and Gas Grounds, west of the Wisconsin Dells in Baraboo, the weekend of August 8-9, 2025. The theme for this first charity event for the Make-a-Wish Foundation and St. Jude Children’s Hospital was “Big Rigs and Bigger Hearts” – and it did not disappoint.
The Dells, Baraboo, and Badger State grounds sit in a valley surrounded by the green, forested hills of central Wisconsin, and served as a nice backdrop to the show field. I arrived late Thursday afternoon and 35 bobtails and combos were already there and being detailed by their owners and drivers. By noon on Saturday a total of 200 show trucks were parked for the weekend event. The north end of the show provided a spectacular view overlooking the beautiful trucks, forested hills, and lush valley.
There is a well-used expression that describes summer weather in the Midwest: “If you don’t like the weather, stick around, it will change in a few minutes.” That expression was true for this truck show. Thursday and Friday were nearly perfect summer days, but Mother Nature changed that on Saturday afternoon. Storm clouds rolled in by 1:00 pm and steady rain fell until 5 pm. Then, the skies cleared up, and we all witnessed a beautiful Wisconsin sunset. The soil in this area is sandy, so the show field quickly dried out, minimizing any possible muddy mess.
There were many vendor booths located throughout the show field selling their products, services, and clothing lines. These vendors were Abbs Paving, American Premium Customs, Bad Gear, Bates Transport, Beam Truck Parts, Big Rig Chrome, Bull Snot, First Weber Real Estate, Frazer Mobile Polish, Hackaway Forest Products, Ho-Chunk Wisconsin Dells Gaming, Hot Rig Apparel, Kropf Logistics, Martin Milk Service, Meister Truck, Republic Services, Sage Media, Riffey Transportation & Logistics, SP Chrome, Sunbelt Rentals, Titan Trailers, Travis Freight, Truck Country, Vick Photography, Wabam, and Wisconsin KW. Vendors who had a major role in providing support for the Badger State truck show were Amcan Truck Parts, Conrad’s Detailing, JX Truck Center, Hawke Trucking, Korth Transportation, and Road Sknz Truck Accessories.
There was a good selection of food offered by several vendors located close to the west side of the main registration building. These vendors included the Reedsburg Boy Scouts Troop 44, Jose’s Authentic Mexican Food, Edwards Ice Cream, Flavor Rescue Food Truck, K&N Concessions & Loco Dogs, Kreative Sweets, Old School Pizza, and Smitty’s Coffee. I had brats and hot dogs from the Boy Scouts and several slices of Old School Pizza. The food I had from both of these vendors was good quality, very satisfying, and inexpensive.
Concerts were scheduled for Friday and Saturday night by some well-known groups and singers. The weather on Friday night was perfect for an outdoor concert. The Friday lineup consisted of Long Haul Paul Marhoefer (traditional country, folk, and blues music), Steve Molanders (current country and hip hop music), and finishing with Tony Justice (country and trucking music). Saturday night’s players were Long Haul Paul again, Presley & Taylor, who are out of Nashville, TN, and the very popular Kentucky Headhunters. I was able to listen to all these entertainers, and their performances were outstanding!
Other special events planned for the weekend were the Friday Night Light Show that lit up the Wisconsin sky and a silent auction for the Make-A-Wish convoy, which took place late Saturday morning. A total of 28 trucks won bids for a spot in the convoy and a total of $6,000 was raised for this charity. The 24-mile convoy route began on the show field, then went past the Ho-Chunk Casino, and then wound around the countryside past Reedsburg, before heading back to the show, just before the rain began.
Key organizers for the Badger State Truck’n Show were Wade Riffey of Riffey Transport & Logistics and Cody Meister of Meisters Forest Products and Meister Trucking Company. Wade also recognized the following volunteers who played an important role in making this inaugural show a success – Derrick Bates, Lavan Cook, Gwen and Tom Cook, Kevin and Nicole Kropf, Shanae Riffey, and Heather and Lake Westphal. Without the hard work and dedication of these folks, the success of this event would not have been possible.
Plans for next year’s event are already in progress. Wade shared with me that the 2nd Badger State Truck’n Show is scheduled for August 7-8, 2026. The host hotel will again be Ho-Chunk Gaming. Tentative activities planned for next year’s event are a local Wisconsin band playing on Friday night, Friday and Saturday night light shows at dusk, a car show all day Saturday, a Saturday morning Pancake Breakfast sponsored by Kwik Trip, a live auction of donated vendor products and convoy slots on Saturday afternoon, the Make-a-Wish convoy through the Wisconsin Dells, and a DJ spinning music to close out Saturday night. Rumor has it next year’s show will have a carnival theme – there might even be a Ferris wheel!
After years of visiting the state of Wisconsin, I think I have better odds of a Punxsutawney Phil sighting than the elusive Wisconsin Badger! But who knows!! The focus of this show – big rigs, driven by people with even bigger hearts – met the goal and made wishes come true for many Wisconsin children affiliated with Make-a-Wish and St. Jude. And isn’t that what all this is about? Pencil in those dates for the 2026 show on your calendars and plan on attending. You won’t regret it! And this year’s winners were:
1989 & OLDER WORKING BOBTAIL:
1st Frank Wodowski; 2nd Dave Kempf; 3rd Nick Cook.
1990-1999 WORKING BOBTAIL:
1st Raiko Graveran; 2nd Jake Neild; 3rd Daren Kintop.
2000-2009 WORKING BOBTAIL:
1st Paul Opelt; 2nd Brad Hartwig; 3rd Patrick O’Neal.
2010-2019 WORKING BOBTAIL:
1st John Elfering; 2nd Pete Anderson; 3rd Tyler Heinen.
2020-2024 WORKING BOBTAIL:
1st Kevin Babler; 2nd Joe McCorison; 3rd James Van Wagner.
2025 & NEWER BOBTAIL:
1st Ryan Kimball; 2nd Zach Bolender.
1989 & OLDER WORKING COMBO:
1st Jody Winch; 2nd Quentin Staffen; 3rd Chris Brost.
1990-1999 WORKING COMBO:
1st Jerry Linander; 2nd Dennis Sikorski; 3rd Zech Mehan.
2000-2009 WORKING COMBO:
1st Christian Andes; 2nd Dane Wisneski; 3rd Andy Smith.
2010-2019 WORKING COMBO:
1st John Yohn; 2nd Jose Chavez; 3rd Tyler Woolley.
2020-2024 WORKING COMBO:
1st Brayton Duff; 2nd Nate Sigafus; 3rd Blake Ray.
2025 & NEWER COMBO:
1st Brian Emshaff; 2nd Doug Pompough; 3rd Kevin Retzlaff.
STRAIGHT TRUCK:
1st Mike Coyne; 2nd Nate Strankowski; 3rd LoLo Sanchez.
SHOW TRUCK:
1st Don Wood; 2nd Fred Rethwisch; 3rd Luke Rethwisch.
BEST LIGHTS WORKING BOBTAIL:
Nate Strankowski.
BEST LIGHTS WORKING COMBO:
Aaron Veli.
BEST LIGHTS SHOW CLASS:
Don Wood.
BEST PAINT WORKING BOBTAIL:
Raiko Graveran.
BEST PAINT WORKING COMBO:
Nate Sigafus.
BEST PAINT SHOW CLASS:
Luke Rethwisch.
BEST INTERIOR WORKING CLASS:
Rob Hallahan.
BEST INTERIOR SHOW CLASS:
Don Wood.
BEST ENGINE WORKING CLASS:
Jerry Linander.
BEST ENGINE SHOW CLASS:
Fred Rethwisch.
KID’S CHOICE WORKING CLASS:
Raiko Graveran.
KID’S CHOICE SHOW CLASS:
Don Wood.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE WORKING CLASS:
Jerry Linander
PEOPLE’S CHOICE SHOW CLASS:
Don Wood.