Picture a huge crowd of spectators standing along the roadside of Main Street in a small town in Kentucky. Now picture trucks railing down the road and doing burnouts to give the crowd a one-of-a-kind smoke and light show. After seeing all of this, you realize the entire police force, both county and city, are right in the middle of the action, cheering it on and even making a couple of the police cruisers smoke the tires. On top of that, all of the town officials, including the Mayor are also watching all of the action. No, this isn't a dream or one of those "It would be cool if" events. All of this actually happens and has happened for three years now. This is all the brainchild of Lee Caudill from Whitesburg, Kentucky, who puts on the huge Heritage show every year, the weekend after Labor Day. This show has become known as Kentucky's largest mini-truck show and home to all of the legal dragging action you could want.
On top of the legal draggin' that takes place about the time the sun goes down, there is also a well-organized show, which is the main reason for this gathering. The nighttime events just add to the appeal of the show.
Things started out this year with the crowd piling in as early as Friday afternoon, which got the festivities kicked off early and let everyone enjoy several hours of catching up on old times in the hotel parking lot until the sun came up. Having barely enough time to catch a few Z's, it was off to snap a few pictures of the show and find all of the trucks that had added new mods and those that were fresh out of the shop. After a full day of catching up with everyone and making sure we captured every aspect of the show, it was back downtown to get the night activities started again. This time around, more of the town officials got involved. We had a chance to talk to some of the town officials while partaking in the all-out legal dragging session. The first person we got to talk to was Mayor Nathan Baker, who said, "This event brings a lot of people to our city, whose population is only around 1,600. It's good for the economy of the town so we enjoy it." It was cool seeing the Mayor hanging out cheering on the dragging. Next to be interviewed was Police Chief Paul Miles, who said, "Having an event like this is a very positive thing. Even with a crowd this size, we can still maintain the order within, and everyone can have a good time." We also got a little face time with the county's Chief Deputy Kenny Terry who also thought it was a good idea to have a full-out event that involved the whole community, along with the show attendees.
Once the draggin' had come to an end, they had a bed-dancing exhibition along with Slow Motions Freestyle street bike stunt team to keep everyone occupied late into the night.
Things got kicked off to a slow start Sunday morning, due to the fact that everyone was still tired from the previous night's events, but they still managed to make it there in time for the awards ceremony. Awards went smoothly, as Lee and the rest of his crew handed out the gold to entrants from as far away as Pennsylvania and Maryland. Lee wanted to point out that none of this would be possible if it wasn't for sponsors like 3DKustoms, Designs by Big Rik, Letcher County Parks and Recreation, Elkhorn Drug, and People's Bank and Trust who lent their support. Vendors such as Drop 'Em Wear?, Graphic Disorder, and Drop Jaw also showed support and set up booths to keep everyone occupied.
For more information on next year's event and to get a little more insight on upcoming events for next year's show, check out www.heritageshow.com.
 Nighttime dragging really...  Nighttime dragging really brought out the crowd. |  Now this is how you get a...  Now this is how you get a town involved in a show. Police Chief Paul Miles, Mayor Nathan Baker, and Chief Deputy Kenny Terry (left to right) took time to pose for a picture in front of the fire station, while Officer "Walker" smoked the tires on his police cruiser in the background with the crowd cheering it on. How many times have you seen a police car do a burn-out? |  |