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Saturday, November 9

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The day started early for Cerwin (he left the house at 7:30) to help Martin Refrigeration install the banner at the gate to the truck show. Jon and Linnea Martin asked him to help because he was familiar with the process due to the many years he assisted with the banner at the TFC Truck Rally.

Representatives from Rigidply (right and behind the Martin truck) also came early to hoist the banner above the gate and high enough for tall truck stacks and high loads to clear.

Cerwin came home, then we went back to the Lebanon Expo about 10 am so I could get pictures of the early activities.

A truck entering under the banner.

A volunteer preparing to give this driver information about registering and parking.

Tyler Heisey (blue plaid shirt) and his wife Brieanna (sitting next to him) were in charge of truck registration.

Just in case you did not see it, this is the poster that was used for advertising the benefit for the Diffenderfer family (notice their family photo on the bottom left).

It was exciting to see all the truckers who brought their vehicles, including these fire companies.

This is Nate and Abby Zuck’s truck and farm tractor repair rig. Abby is our granddaughter. I didn’t realize that I captured Cerwin (right) on this photo, until I prepared it for posting. 🙂

There was a special area for the pickup trucks. The one on the right is our son, Jeff’s old truck.

I went back to see the trucks several times during the day and decided to post them all together. That way there is a bit of order to this entry.

It was a beautiful, cool, sunny day – perfect for a truck show.

We were getting close to 100 trucks when this rig arrived. My prayer was that there would be at least 100 trucks.

Our friend Quentin’s rig from Maine. I met him before I took this picture, then met his family a bit later.

As I mentioned, I was praying for 100 trucks for this benefit and happened to be there when this truck (the 100th) arrived! I understand there were 8 more, making a total of 108.

At one point, during my walks to see the trucks, I noticed that the van carrying Micah and Heidi was getting close to me, so I stopped to talk with them a bit. A friend from church who has a handicap assessable van drove them up and down the rows of trucks, then parked close to the building so others could greet him. He wanted to come back for the evening program but was not feeling strong enough to do that. He will be going back to Hershey Medical at the end of the week for another round of chemo to help deal with his cancer.

Now, to the inside of the buildings. Cathy, Janelle, and Joanna were the first ones on duty at the Information and First Aid desk. There were others on the second shift. I was on for third shift – 2 pm to 5:30 pm. I was glad that Joanna came back, as well as LaWanda (from second shift) because it was the busiest time. Late meal orders and payment of the Silent Auction items happened during my shift.

The information table was inside near East Hall, Southeast Hall, and the Brightbill buildings. Martin Refrigeration was not able to get the entire fairground because North Hall was being used for a quilt show and there was an auction in West Hall. However, the buildings they rented were quite sufficient, and we never knew there were other vendors in the complex.

Linnea with Martin Refrigeration at the ticket registration computer. She was truly the powerhouse behind this day. I loved that the person in charge of the Expo felt that she did not have enough time to pull off this day. Micah is one of their employees. They did not have that much time to prepare for this. When the Expo employee saw her on Saturday, he said, “You are one organized woman.” Those of us who served on the committee already knew that.

White Oak Church was fully behind this event and supported Martin Refrigeration in a great way: volunteers prior to, on the day of the event, the bake sale, and the Silent Auction. Micah and Heidi are faithful members of our church. Two Amish couples were also highly involved. One was in charge of finding sponsors (paid for expenses) and the other couple own Dutch Country Catering.

These two children (Vince and Kate’s) wanted to do a coffee table to help benefit Micah’s fundraiser. Vince is on the right overseeing them. If you know Vince, you know the coffee was the best! This was a popular place all day long – especially in the morning.

Nitoche (left), her parents Mike and Mim, and Brenda (back left) were four of many who volunteered to make sandwiches for breakfast and lunch. The ingredients were supplied by Dutch Country Catering.

The bake sale was on the other side of the hall. Janessa (right) is Micah’s sister.

Notice all the tables and chairs on the right. I took this picture early in the day. These chairs were gradually all filled. When I looked in later in the morning, I said this area looked like a truck stop.

This is a sample of drivers and others visiting, eating and drinking coffee, lemonade or tea.

The adjoining hall held the Silent Auction items – and there were a lot of them. Because I helped receive payment for these items, I expect this was a highly successful part of the day.

For Silent Auctions, there is a signup sheet where bids are placed. Another person can outbid you, so if you really want it, you have to keep checking if you still have the highest bid.

The children’s activities were next door in the very large Brightbill Arena. Glenda (right) was in charge of this area. In this photo she is stapling a crown to fit the girl who designed it.

Corn bins are always popular places for children. There were two of them.

I loved the creative bounce house items.

I was there early, when there were only two children in each. They didn’t show up on my pictures because of the tunnels and slides.

Facepainting was done by several girls from our youth group.

When I met our great grandson Anthony later in the day, it was obvious that he had stopped by one of the facepainting tables.

Outside the Brightbill Arena, I came upon two of our ministers who were taking children for rides on these trains. The driver here is Glendon Zook.

Later in the day Glendon was waiting for his train to load, while Dustin Martin waited in the background. His train would be the next to load. I think there were other men who drove these tractors and not just Glendon and Dustin.

After the children’s activities and silent auction closed in the late afternoon, Marion and Friends (an amazing ventriloquist) entertained everyone with her skills.

She started with this guy, as she told everyone that their hands could be used to create a puppet. She used eyeballs, a rubber band, and a sock. In this photo, he was complaining about the rubber band and said the sock smelled like feet. She assured him that the sock was clean.

It became a very popular room between early afternoon and supper.

I walked to the front for this picture so you could see how many came to hear her. It was fun to listen to all the laughter.

I think she had a name for this bird, but I will just call him a bird with an attitude. This looked like he was thinking about stealing her hat – which he always does.

She was trying to teach him how to pronounce ventriloquist and Pennsylvania. He never did get it. By the time she got to the process of pronouncing Pennsylvania, he said, “Ventriloquist.” 🙂

She also had a cute, inquisitive mouse.

Supper was served in the same room as where the food and bake sale had been held earlier in the day. It took many volunteers to tear down and set up this room. Most of the meal was in these boxes. One had “C” on it for chicken, and the other “P” for pulled pork. About the only difference was the style of bun. At the end of the table, you got macaroni salad and pork or chicken, plus your choice of drink.

This room had previously been where the Silent Auction and ventriloquist had been – another set of volunteers changed this room from one event to another.

By 7:30 many people went to the Brightbill Barn (behind the arena where the children had been earlier in the day) for the evening concert.

Before the concert began Linnea and Jon (Martin Refrigeration) thanked everyone for their participation.

This bluegrass group was invited to be there because they are one of Micah’s favorite groups. We all felt bad that Micah wasn’t doing well enough to be present for this.

Toward the end of the concert they sang Micah’s favorite song, “Brethren We Have Met to Worship.”

Linnea came on stage partway through the concert to announce the offering. Gary (behind her) prayed prior to the offering.

There was a light show after the concert, but we got there too late. There were only a few trucks left on the grounds.

If you have Facebook, you can go to Derric Miller’s picture of the full lightshow – Facebook,