Gear Jammer Magazine Truck Show arrives at Franklin County Fairgrounds

By BELLA LEVAVI

Staff Writer

Published: 07-21-2023 5:43 PM

GREENFIELD — The sixth annual Gear Jammer Magazine Truck Show rolled into the Franklin County Fairgrounds on Friday and will continue Saturday, displaying roughly 600 trucks for visitors from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

“If you are gearhead, there are fascinating engines displayed,” said Tom Conrad, son of event organizer Bob Conrad.

Entry costs $20 per person. Children 15 years old and under get in for free.

The event is planned by the magazine Gear Jammer, which has been printing since 2016. It began when Bob Conrad, a hobbyist photographer, decided to take his passion for photographing trucks and create a magazine, with help from his sons, showing the mode of transportation that so many people love. Gear Jammer showcases semi-trucks, custom trucks, working trucks, antique trucks and restoration projects.

“We cover a good bit of everything in the trucking industry,” Tom Conrad said.

After the first couple years of printing the magazine and attending truck shows across the Northeast, the family decided to make a show of their own. They hosted the event in Massachusetts but moved it to New Hampshire during the pandemic. For the past three years, it has been held at the Monadnock Speedway.

This show, according to Tom Conrad, is the largest truck show in the Northeast. It has about 180 sponsors and 350 trucks were registered for the show on Friday. Organizers expect about 600 trucks by the Saturday show.

The event is a fundraiser for the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism. Last year, the Gear Jammer Magazine Truck Show raised $82,000 for the nonprofit. Organizers hope to raise $100,000 this year.

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Love of trucks, event attendees explained, is an intergenerational passion. Rick Sousa came to the show from Portsmouth, Rhode Island, to display his 1977 Kenworth truck, a retirement present he bought for himself. Both Sousa and his father were truck drivers, and his grandfather was a truck mechanic. During his trucking career, Sousa said he drove 5 million miles.

Sousa attends truck shows across the Northeast.

“This show is dynamite,” he said, complimenting the new fairgrounds location.

Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.

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