To grow event, organizers moving annual antique truck show from South Deerfield to Cummington

CUMMINGTON — The annual antique truck show, organized by the western Massachusetts chapter of the Antique Truck Club of America, is switching gears this year.

Instead of its usual location at the Yankee Candle Corporate Headquarters in South Deerfield, visitors will travel to the Cummington Fairgrounds at 97 Fairgrounds Road to check out the show. The event will kick off at 8 a.m. on Sunday, May 3, with an anticipated end time of around 2 p.m., depending on the weather conditions.

According to Phil Judd, president of the western Massachusetts chapter of the Antique Truck Club of America, the group changed venues to secure more reliable spectator parking and a space that provides “a good home base” for the show to grow.

While the former site at Yankee Candle stretched 6 acres, the Cummington Fairgrounds spans 40 acres and includes pavilions. With more space, Judd said the club plans on adding a flea market packed with old truck parts to the lineup of future shows.

“They were very good to us for many years,” Judd said of Yankee Candle. “[The Cummington Fairgrounds] will allow for growth for the show for many years to come.”

Attendees can roam past pickup trucks, semi-trucks, dump trucks and other relics on wheels; enter a $100 raffle; and enjoy food from vendors, including lunch from Local Burger, breakfast sandwiches, homemade apple fritters and other sweets from The Farmer’s Daughter, maple kettle corn from Ol’ Bucket’s and ice cream from Maple Valley Creamery.

For the first time this year, besides the open gallery of trucks, families can also check out police cruisers and fire trucks from local departments, an addition with the intention of drawing younger visitors to the show.

“The local fire departments are always looking to get the word out for good local connection, so we were trying to help out everybody in the mix of it,” Judd explained.

While the truck show drew about 100 people last year in the rain, 200 people have attended sunnier shows, Judd noted.

“We’re hoping with the new location, people will be curious enough to come out and we’ll have more [people],” Judd said. “It’s good to have something fun for people to do. Especially after a long winter, it’s good to get out into the warm weather and enjoy a day out.”

Admission for visitors and owners of trucks featured in the show is free, with no advance registration required. Any donations will “go back into the community,” Judd said, benefiting local animal shelters, food banks and a veterans’ center.

For Judd, the show gives the owners of antique trucks a chance to show off their gems.

Speaking of the truck owners, he said, “They’re deeply connected to them because they’ve either worked with them or grown up with them. … They take care of these trucks and they want to see other people enjoy them, too,” Judd said. “It’s a labor of love.”