WALCOTT, Iowa – Get ready for fireworks, a pork-chop cookout, music, antique truck displays, a truck beauty contest and about 50,000 visitors to the Quad Cities region.
Those are some of the features planned at the 2022 Walcott Truckers Jamboree, set for Thursday, July 14, through Saturday, July 16, at Iowa 80 Truckstop, I-80 Exit 284, Walcott.
“We can’t wait for everyone to be here enjoying the trucks, music, food, fireworks and just being together,” Heather DeBaillie, vice president of marketing for the Iowa 80 Group, said in a news release. “We appreciate the dedication and hard work professional drivers perform. It’s an important job. … They are the reason we have hosted this event for decades. Drivers deserve to be celebrated.”
Admission and parking to the event are free. Shuttles are provided from the parking area to the event grounds.
Known as the World’s Largest Truckstop, the Iowa 80 Truckstop sponsors the jamboree annually as its salute to the trucking industry. It was founded by the late Bill and Carolyn Moon and today is operated by the family’s second generation including son Will Moon and daughter Delia Moon Meier.
The jamboree is expected to attract 45,000 to 50,000 people, Ms. DeBaillie told the OCBJ in an interview Monday, July 11. Last year’s jamboree attracted about 44,500 people.
One of the main events of this year’s show will be a concert by the Grammy Award-winning group, Diamond Rio. That concert is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Friday, July 15.
Diamond Rio is known for such hits as “Beautiful Mess,” “One More Day,” and “Meet in the Middle.” The group has five No. 1 hits and 14 other songs that have charted in the Top 10 in the country music charts.
Here are some of the jamboree events:
- Thursday, July 14: 10 a.m. – events begin; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. – exhibits are open; 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. – Iowa Pork Chop Cook-out; 1:30-3:30 p.m. – Trucker Olympics; 5-6:30 p.m. – Dani Lynn Howe and Band; and 7-8:30 p.m. – Kylie Frey concert.
- Friday, July 15: 10:30 a.m. – Truckers’ Best Friend Pet Contest; 2:30 p.m. – 100th birthday party for the 1922 Walter Snow Fighter; 5-6:30 p.m. – Mo’s Garage concert; 7-8:30 p.m. – Diamond Rio concert; 9 p.m. – fireworks.
- Saturday, July 16: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Antique truck display; 1-3 p.m. The Brat Pack concert; 3 p.m. Super Truck Beauty Contest Awards; 5 p.m. – show closes.
For more information, visit iowa80truckstop.com/trucker-jamboree/.
