This year's Alexandra Truck, Ute & Rod Show saw Damien Reed's 2022 Kenworth T909 win this year's Royans Truck of the Show award.
Alexandra wound up its 25th Annual Truck, Ute and Rod Show in style with the traditional sounding of horns through the town’s main street as more than 400 vehicles emptied the town at 4pm on Sunday, June 9.
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The show, held each year on the King’s Birthday weekend, attracted a crowd of almost 20,000 to Alexandra to raise money for the town’s burgeoning mental health program.
The show also provides a financial injection into the town’s businesses and community organisations, with sports clubs, the local op shop and every boutique and eatery in between doing a roaring trade.
Rounda 3 Café owner Kevin Mortley said the crowd the show brings in each year was critical for the very existence of the popular eatery he runs with his wife Sirikarn.
“If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be here,” Mr Mortley said.
Measuring up the café’s famous block-busting queues was not possible this year, due to the popularity of the set menu on offer.
“I know the queue was three people wide, but I couldn’t tell you how long it was because I didn’t get outside to even see the show.
“We were very, very busy and it was fantastic, and we are thankful to the show’s organisers and especially the volunteers as well.”
Founding committee member Andrew Embling said a crowd of more than 17,000 attended the day, which this year required more streets to be closed off to accommodate extra vehicles.
“It was a great day all round,” Mr Embling told Country News.
“The quality of the trucks was unreal, the kids loved the big rides and people spent time watching the wood chopping.
“There was also no fog, no rain and even a couple of minutes of sun.”
Although more than $19,000 was raised by the auction, accounts were still coming in before a final figure could be announced.
“But we have made a commitment of $5000 to help get the Scouts to the Jamboree in Queensland in January,” Mr Embling said.
“On top of all of that, the music at the show was better than Tamworth.”
For musician Brooke Taylor and her Poison Spitting Gin Queens, the event may not have been their first gig on the back of a truck, but it was their first performance in Alexandra.
“It was brilliant,” she said.
“I was not expecting it to be as vastly attended as it was, which was delightful to see in a post-COVID world, to see so many people go out.
“It was a really strong sense of community, I enjoyed being a part of it and I cannot speak highly enough of how brilliant the crew and Andrew and Ayden (Embling) and all the organisers were.
Brooke Taylor and the Poison Spitting Gypsy Queens hope for another invitation to next year's show.
“We stayed in Thornton the night before and then drove up in the morning and the colour of driving through the valley was absolutely stunning – I would recommend anyone to make a weekend of it to come up.”
The band hopes for another invitation.
“I will absolutely return again, that’s a hearty yes and two strong thumbs up,” Ms Taylor said.
Inspirational Kyabram-based leading rural mental health speaker Warren Davies, also known as The Unbreakable Farmer, was a headline speaker at this year’s show.
Spreading the unbreakable word
The ‘Unbreakable Farmer’ Warren Davies spoke at the show about the importance of mental health in the trucking industry.
“It doesn’t matter which industry we deal with, it’s a great chance to spread around the message of mental health,” he said.
Mr Davies travels widely and speaks to a variety of audiences to provide tools people can easily use to overcome challenges.
He shares from his own life experiences.
“The trucking industry is like my own industry with farming.
“It is similar because there’s a lot of hours of think time when you’re on your own and if things are not going well for you then your think time can become detrimental to your mental health, so it’s important to reach out to your support network and also professionals if needed.
“Your support network is made up of family friends, work colleagues and people you can trust, so if the ‘proverbial’ hits the fan you can turn and talk to them.”
For help with mental health issues, contact TIACS on 0488 846 988 or Lifeline on 131 114.
