600 trucks, 20,000 people from around the world head to Dodge County for the Big Iron Classic

Sep. 7—KASSON — What started as a small gathering with friends and family has now turned into a huge truck show with around 20,000 attendees each year and growing.

The Big Iron Classic made its way back to the Dodge County Fairgrounds in Kasson for a two-day truck show and pull. The event started in 2000 as a small gathering of friends and now the show has more than 600 trucks.

"It's never been advertised. This is all word of mouth," said Jim Finn, founder and board member for the Big Iron Classic. "The majority of the people here are friends, and if we have trouble anywhere in the country, we can get a hold of anybody."

The event is two days long but trucks started showing up as early as Wednesday. They have local food vendors, a truck parade and a big show on Saturday night.

The parade is a large route that takes the trucks from Kasson to Byron and back. Hundreds of trucks lined up outside the fairgrounds to show off their trucks to Dodge County as they drove for around 30 minutes. Some trucks were blaring their horns at excited spectators and throwing candy to children watching.

Truckers from all over the country come to see old friends, look at the trucks and watch the annual truck pull on Saturday night. They had multiple attendees from overseas this year.

Australian Peter Cellen was one of the truckers in attendance. He heard about the show from one of his friends, Larry Olson, in 2018 and this was his fifth year going to the event. He is always unable to bring a truck with him overseas but he was very excited to see familiar faces and learn some new tricks and tips.

"It's just about nice people, spending some time and doing things and seeing different perspectives on truck driving to certain things you do differently in America that we could do in Australia," Cellen said. "You'd take that on board, and you look at it and see whether you can change anything you do yourself."

Cellen has been to many truck shows throughout the years, but this one always stands out to him because it isn't about the bells and whistles. There is no judging during this truck show, which makes the atmosphere more relaxed and friendly. The weekend isn't about a competition, it's about being with friends.

That is one of the big draws for Clyde and Melody Green as well. They traveled from their home in Cheyenne, Wyoming to attend the show and see familiar faces.

Clyde has been in the trucking industry his whole life. He was going out in the truck with his dad since he was a child and knew that's what he wanted to do. Melody didn't start joining him on the road until the pandemic hit.

"Every time we got in the truck, it was just like this little, tiny bubble where we were safe," Melody said. "We were together, and everything fell away, and it was just us, and it was just the best thing. It was really kind of what got us through it."

They also began to attend truck shows together. Melody also enjoys them and it gives them something fun to do while staying in contact with their friends.

"I come for the people," Clyde said. "There's people you want to be around, and everybody's just so nice here. I don't know how to put it any other way. It's just anybody you meet, they're your friend for life."

The trucking industry is vast and spread throughout the country, yet events like this allow them to be together. It's a great opportunity to catch up with those they hadn't seen in a while, but it's also one of the few opportunities to really show off their trucks.

"There's hundreds and hundreds of trucks, and it's just their pride and joy," Melody said. "Whether it's faded, it doesn't matter, and you don't get judged. So they just come up here and they just want to show their children off. They want people to think they're beautiful, and everybody thinks they're all beautiful, even the ones that aren't beautiful."