The Fourth Annual Richard Crane Memorial Truck Show in St. Ignace, Mich., was an experience few who were there will ever forget. Some 131 of the best show trucks in the U.S. and Canada crowded into the small town from Sept. 17-19 to wow residents and visitors alike. The highlight was the Parade of Lights across the Mackinac Straits Bridge. This year’s parade was sponsored by Bill Hudgins & Wilda Dodson.

The trucks rumbled south out of town on Saturday evening to cross the breathtaking Mackinac Straits Bridge that links Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to "downstate." The rigs rolled through Mackinaw City at the other end of the bridge and circled back. The parade stretched for up to nine miles – so long that the first of the returning trucks was almost back over the bridge before the tail of the line cleared. With all their chicken lights and usually hidden neon's blazing and air horns and train horns wailing, the parade was cheered by thousands of people.

The truck show was sanctioned by the National Association of Show Trucks, and like all NAST events was open to members and non-members alike. (Call 941-626-1530 for information about NAST.) Many local rigs, including humongous "Michigan B-trains" that carry loads up to 150,000 pounds, competed in the show.

"Parade Of Lights"
on Famed Mackinac Bridge