From brawn to beauty, the Midwest All-Truck Nationals hauls into Riverside

As the owner of an old truck, I always look forward to the Midwest All-Truck Nationals, which made its annual stop at the E.H. Young Riverfront Park in Riverside, Mo., over the weekend.  This event is hosted by the Genuine Chevy/GMC Truck Club of Kansas City.  How seriously do I take this show?  Well, I usually take my truck to a real car wash and blast it with a high-pressure wand instead of just hosing it off in the driveway, and I climb into the bed and sweep it out with a broom.  So yeah, it’s a pretty big deal.

2012 Midwest All-Truck Nationals is the place where truck owners come together

If you own a Camaro, Corvette, Mustang, Thunderbird, or Chevelle, there is a big, model-specific car show in Kansas City just for you. Now, I don’t own a Camaro, Corvette, Mustang, Thunderbird, or Chevelle. I have an old truck. Not even a pretty old truck. So the chances of me hitting a show that I would fit in at are few-and-far between.

Quality and quantity at the 39th Annual Show and Shine at the Ag Hall

One of the better car shows of the year was held on Saturday when the Genuine Chevy/GMC Truck Club of Kansas City hosted the 39th Annual Show and Shine at the Agricultural Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs.  You can tell that this is one of those shows that people go that extra step to make sure their cars are perfect.

The Ag Hall of Fame is actually a really picturesque place to hold an event like this.  The show field is surrounded by vintage-looking small town buildings, a big pond with lily pads lines one end of the field, and a miniature train clicks its way around the perimeter taking kids for rides.  And there were close to 100 cars and trucks, so you can bet that there were some cool ones to choose from. 

Several trucks and a few cars at the Sonic Cruise in Bonner Springs

I decided to visit a car cruise that I’ve never been to before, so we loaded up the truck and headed to Bonner Springs and the Sonic cruise hosted by the Genuine Chevy-GMC Truck Club of Kansas City.

It was hot and sunny out there late Saturday afternoon, and the boiling temperatures probably kept some of the cars away. It was a fairly light crowd. But those who were there seemed to be enjoying the music, snacking on mozzarella bites, and savoring cool confections from Sonic’s ice cream menu.

The 12th Annual Midwest All Truck Nationals brought trucks and truck fans from all over America to the Riverside Red-X

They say that one of the dangers of owning a pickup truck is that all your family and friends will ask you to use it to haul things for them. If that's the case, Riverside was the location of the most popular people in town, because the 12th Annual Midwest All-Truck Nationals was wall-to-wall trucks.

For the past few years, this event was held at the E.H. Young Riverfront Park, but that location is still suffering from the ill effects of too much water and not enough riverbed. So the festivities were moved to the grassy lot out behind the eclectic Red-X general store. I haven't been to this exact location since the old Riverside Stadium dirt track resided on this spot.

38th Annual Ag Hall of Fame Show N' Shine brought rows and rows of great cars to a beautiful and interesting location

The Annual Show N' Shine at the Ag Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs, Kan., is a real tradition here in town, and a nicer place to hold a show you'll never find.

This is the 38th year for this event, which is hosted by the Genuine Chevy/GMC Truck Club of Kansas City. As you might imagine, there tends to be a large contingent of old Chevy pickups there, but that certainly isn't the only thing that makes it in.