The Palmerston Bobtail Truck Show celebrates year 16 thanks to this dedicated group of people.

PALMERSTON, ON. — Perhaps it’s been too long since I visited one of the small Northern Ontario towns I grew up in, but there seems to be an inordinate number of trucking related companies in the small southern Ontario town of Palmerston.

Drive off the main drag, and you’ll see more than a respectable number of driveways with a working truck.

Somehow get lost on your way to the Palmerston Bobtail Truck Show — happening today and tomorrow —  wait two minutes and follow the guys bobtailing.

And if you want to see a grown woman jump up and down when you drive your truck into the show, then you should definitely make time to swing by Palmerston this weekend.

But this show is more about the hands behind the wheel than the wheels themselves.

Don and Joan Harrow have been helping to organize the show for 16 years, and they’ll tell you that this show is built for the drivers.

“This is driver appreciation,” Joan told me yesterday over the phone.

“These are all working trucks, and they take care of them as you can see,” Don explained to me early this morning as the show was getting started. “You see the guys polishing, but you can go up and talk to them and they’ll give you the time.”

For a $35 entry-fee, drivers get a plaque and a door prize (courtesy of the many, many sponsors of the show, including Today’s Trucking and Truck ‘n’ Trailer), plus free breakfast on Sunday morning. There’s music and good times tonight, following a smoked pork chop BBQ dinner.

What else do you need?