The month of September typically brings beautiful weather to northeast Ohio, and the weekend of September 19-20, 2025, was no exception. I was blessed to spend a few days at the Portage County Fairgrounds in Randolph, OH at the annual Denise Marie Flaherty Memorial Truck Show and Pull, known as DMF-OH5. This is the fifth year of the show, with exciting plans to be around for years to come. As per an announcement made at the show on Saturday, the DMF Foundation was thrilled to inform the crowd that they had officially reserved the fairgrounds for the next five years, and plan to continue holding this wonderful event there.
The DMF Foundation was initiated by one of Denise Flaherty’s sons, Brian, to provide assistance to those affected by cancer, including their families, in a financial and emotional manner. In 1984 Denise had been diagnosed with stage 4 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and was given an estimated six weeks to live, beating those odds by battling for almost 10 more years. During efforts of the family to pay off the medical debt that racked up, a gift was given to them from a cancer center in New York – forgiveness for about $350,000 of medical bills. From that generosity, Brian founded the 501c3 nonprofit in order to pay it forward to others facing the same challenges. Over the past 22 years, the DMF Foundation has been able to distribute $1,500,000 to numerous beneficiaries, and what better way to help raise some of those funds than an event with food, raffles, and a whole lot of chrome!
This year’s event introduced a new eye-catching competition held at dusk on Friday night – a light show. Thanks to previous inquiries from attendees about having a light show, including having a spur of the moment one at last year’s show, event organizer Heidi Benjamin was more than happy to officially add it to the 2025 agenda, stating, “If you guys want it, go ahead and do it!” The night of Friday, September 19th, was the beginning of something spectacular, with multiple drivers bringing out their cleanest, brightest trucks to light up the night sky with vivid LEDs. This was a judged light show, with 30 trucks entered into two separate classes (combo and bobtail). Winners received a beautifully crafted trophy of a wooden American flag displaying “DMF-OH5” along with their placing and class.
With vibrant lights complimenting each truck, they had some impressive contenders in the light show, including 1st Place Combo class winner Dave Cunningham of Derry, PA and his 2023 orange Peterbilt 389 car hauler. Sporting a big 605-hp Cummins, the vibrant MJB truck is not new to this show. Last year it turned heads with roughly 500 lights, but after a couple nights in the shop, fueled by lots of Snickers bars, Dave and a few buddies ended up adding almost 300 more – for a total of 800 lights for this year! And despite the extensive and creative exterior lighting, Dave told me his favorite part of the truck is, and always will be, the custom interior.
The 2nd Place winner in the Combo class was Josh Brown of Louisville, OH and his 2017 Sunburst orange Peterbilt 579, sporting a 12.7 Detroit and 450 lights. This combo was definitely a head-turner, showing off a red, white, and blue light pattern under the trailer, accompanied by the American flag up front. Josh has owned the truck since it was new and uses it to haul aggregates and agricultural products around the Ohio region. In the Bobtail class, coming in 1st Place, was Tom Christafferson’s stunning red and white Peterbilt 389, followed by Thomas Barnett in 2nd with his black day cab Peterbilt 389, adorned with purple lights. The sights at the light show were something that pictures just can’t ever seem to do justice.
Saturday morning rolled around, and trucks were still rolling in, being led to their designated parking spots by volunteers in golf carts – it was like watching a well-oiled machine. The weather didn’t skip a beat, staying blue skies with sunshine all day long, plus there was a consistent flow of spectators at all times that could be found checking out trucks, buying raffle basket tickets, etc. By 4:00 pm the votes were counted, and the results were in.
People’s Choice went to Clint Sherbondy’s Ford Ranger, which also placed 1st in the Pickup class. Dave Cunningham took home 2nd Place in Combo to add another trophy to his haul for the show. Traveling a little farther than Dave was Joe Schmitt who traveled from Wisconsin and took home the Best of Show Bobtail award with a classy red and white 2023 Peterbilt 389. Kuhnle Bros. was well represented in the Combo class and earned Best of Show for their 2000 Peterbilt 379 driven in by Travis Ross, while 3rd Place went to their 2023 Peterbilt 389X operated by Brian Sweet. Speaking to Travis, I learned that they order their specific shade of green so much that PPG has since named it “Kuhnle Green” – how cool is that!
All the excitement of raffle basket winnings and truck placings transferred right over to the track, where CS Pulling Promotion was getting ready to start the truck and tractor pulling portion of the show. The track crew was hard at work for hours through the day, prepping the track, after recent droughts left it dry, dusty, and loose. However, that group did such a good job that if you didn’t see them working on it during the day, you would never have known what a mess it was before they started working on it. Tractors, trucks, and semis all came out to compete, including the super semi “Macksimus Prime 1” – a 1985 Mack Superliner driven by Joey Bonner. That truck powered down the track for a distance of 315.19 feet, earning him the top spot at the end of the night.
This year’s show brought in 162 trucks and raised a similar amount to last year, netting just over $37,200 for the cause. Overall, year five was arguably the best show to date, and I have no doubt that this event will continue to grow, year after year, for at least another five years, and just get bigger and better. So, mark your calendar for next year’s show on September 18-19, 2026, because the “five more years of fun” has just begun, and you won’t want to miss it!