With Falken's big display located in the front of the show where all the spectators were coming in, it was hard to mistake that Falken Tires was the main show sponsor. With a number of fine rides sitting under Falken's tent, a crowd was hanging around all weekend. Representatives from the company answered a lot of technical questions for interested onlookers.
The weather for the show was very mild, which made it enjoyable for spectators and participants alike. There were plenty of vendors on hand, selling everything from airbags to custom-made graphics. The most noticeable of all the vendors was the big rig that belonged to Godfather Customs, which was set up in the middle of the vendor area.
To garner even more attention, Hal Johnson, owner of Godfather Customs, crawled on top of his rig and started throwing Godfather T-shirts to the crowd that had gathered around his rig. We cruised the show grounds all day long, checking out all the great rides and watching some entertaining events. As the sun started to go down in the western sky, everyone headed out to hit their favorite eating establishments and then into Lebanon to cruise the square.
By 1 p.m. Sunday, everyone had returned to the big covered pavilion to see who was going to take top honors for the show. Charlie did things a little differently at this year's show. He started out by giving out the Best Of awards, including Best Truck and Car of Show first, and then the class winners. This way everyone was there when the top awards were given out.
This year's Slammin' and Jammin' was the best one yet with more than 1,000 vehicles registered and judged. Everyone had a great time, and Charlie is already deep into making plans for the 2004 edition of the show. So make your plans early and give Charlie a call at (423) 623-4644 or (423) 623-1871, or visit the website at www.autoshows.com. You can also see coverage of the 2003 event on the same website. Hope to see you there next year.