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There is sort of a magic to this whole process as hundreds of workers unload trucks, operate reach-lift booms, lay carpet, unpack boxes, string cable, set up booths, tables and backdrops in a fury that lasts only a day.

The Great American Truck Show, an annual event held in Dallas, Texas, is something of a Potemkim Village when you stand back and look at the finished product. The term “Potemkim Village” refers to a legendary story about a Russian general named Gregory Potemkim, who during the reign of Catherine the Great allegedly built movie-set type villages for the Empress to see on her tour of distant parts of her empire in 1787. Actually that didn’t happen, just a story made up by the General’s enemies, but the term Potemkim Village is a good for describing the creation of villages overnight that disappear a couple of days later: like a trade show.

There is sort of a magic to this whole process as hundreds of workers unload trucks, operate reach-lift booms, lay carpet, unpack boxes, string cable, set up booths, tables and backdrops in a fury that lasts only a day. Work orders direct the process using numbered spaces to make sure that everything gets to right place on time with last minute touches being applied just seconds before the doors open. And volunteers are big part of the effort too.

This year Harvey Zander, the owner of the fabulous Icy Blu 2 International show truck was on hand to volunteer at directing the placement of show rigs in the pavilion area. This is a tough job because the truckers tend to arrive all different times and further complicate the process depending on whether they have a trailer attached. To make breaking down the show faster they have to put the T-T units nearest the door, but they don’t arrive in that order so Harvey has to do some creative engineering to make sure everybody gets placed properly. And he has to deal with some poor lighting in that area not really conducive to highlighting the details of the showtrucks. He did a great job, but the whole process might have turned some of the fun of being at a show in to just plain hard work for him.

In the vendor areas they have big rigs and trailer units also and they have to be placed before almost anything else can go in.

In the vendor areas they have big rigs and trailer units also and they have to be placed before almost anything else can go in. They are framework around which the show operates of course. 4 State Trucks, the originators of the Trick My Truck CMT TV program and creators of the Chrome Shop Mafia were on hand with a brand new rig, The Godfather, featuring blended running boards on a lowered chassis, custom fenders, 10” stacks and other exotic treatments on a long, long 302” wheelbase that was a heart-stopper for any custom truck lover. A truck show is double work for this great team as they know everybody in the world and spend more time saying hello to old friends than they can really spare as the clocks winds down without mercy to the doors opening for the show. But Bryan Martin and Scott St. Germain are two the most polite gentlemen in this industry and somehow never get visibly frustrated when dealing with fans and customers who have made the Chrome Shop Mafia a household word in just three short years.

 The last to arrive are the small individual booths for vendors offering everything from vitamin pills to promoting insurance services. They add flavor to the event along with a smattering of folks hawking cookware and jewelry polish, but not much depth to the show. It’s about trucks, that’s why they call it a Truck Show, but then the legendary Potemkim Village’s probably had a few out of place things too. The story here is about the making a 24-hour village for all to enjoy for three days; then like magic making it disappear just as fast.