Rolling into Casino on Friday afternoon with rain pending and light fading after two flights and an hour-long drive through the countryside, it was hard to know exactly what to expect.
While it was a given the show would be well run, the organisers and Richmond Valley Council have this down to a tee, this Friday night would be different to 2024, with the inaugural addition of the Friday Night Lights showcase.
Casino Truck Show organiser Darren Goodwin had said in the lead up to the show registrations for the 550 available spots in Saturday’s line-up had sold out as fast as a Taylor Swift concert, so there was no doubt there would be truckies in town, or arriving.
While in the past a dozen or so trucks had come into the middle of town and parked up outside the pub where the sponsors gathered for a pre-show get together, this year the organisers had stepped it up to another level.
Live music had been booked, the cafes were staying open later, and the invite was out there for those arriving on Friday night to bring their trucks into town, turn on their lights and showcase the electrifying efforts they’d put into illuminating the big beasts.
The word had obviously got out with plenty of locals and visitors braving the slightly chilly air and lining the main street into town as the sun went down to admire a mini truck parade that soon had the streets lit up like Christmas.
Rows of reverse-parked trucks provided all manner of lights, including some cool windscreen LEDs that were able to be programmed with winking eyes or short messages.
While the rain threatened and eventually fell around 9pm, the sun had started disappearing around 5.30pm and the crowd had a solid couple of hours before it thinned out as people headed home to come back and do it all again on Saturday.
And do it they did.
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Richmond Valley Council’s Community Connection Manager, and truck show comms leader, Sharon Davidson said the crowds had been estimated at 40,000 this year – a record result for the regional event.
Sharon also said the charity auction raised $26,000 which would be divided up between prostate cancer awareness charity Get Yourself Checked and local charities who would have the opportunity to apply for cash to support their projects.
For those who haven’t been to Casino Truck Show, it’s handy to know that it’s run in the centre of town, on bitumen, with trucks parking north, south, east and west of the central roundabout and the city centre is blocked off to pedestrians-only for most of the day.
Casino itself is in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, about an hour’s drive from the coastal town of Ballina, famous for its Big Prawn.
Normally, Casino, has a population of around 12,500 people.
The Saturday element of the show starts with a truck parade where thousands of people line the route into town, kicking off their morning by finding their own patch of roadside, some with barbecues and camp chairs, from which to watch an hour-long parade roll past.
This year’s parade was capped at 200 trucks – a decision taken by the organisers to allow enough time for the trucks to be parked up for judging and for people to enjoy the balance of the day.
The parade starts at 10am, and the city is returned to normal by around 6pm that night. Last year more than 700 trucks turned up for the show and while not everyone participated in the parade, it was certainly more than the 200 trucks this year and that parade had rolled on for nearly two hours.
Another thing to note is that Casino Truck Show is known as one of the “richest” in terms of the number of prizes and vouchers given out to trucks judged as winners on the Saturday afternoon.
The award’s ceremony lasted an hour-and-a-half, with another record set at the finale when the Tiny Lollback Truck of the Show award went to two Kenworth T900s driven by Chris and Andrew Muscat of Muscat Haulage.
Both trucks are working trucks with about 1.2 million kilometres on the clock, and their polished presentation was so close the judges couldn’t split them.
For the Muscat brothers, whose business has a fleet of 13 trucks hauling out of Yass in New South Wales, the win was a welcome surprise and a great opportunity to shine the spotlight on their team.
Andrew said the family business had started with his mum and dad, off the back of his Ddd driving with his own brothers back in the 1970s.
He and Chris are second generation from there, and now their children were becoming part of the team too.
He said the business had grown during the COVID years as demand for deliveries skyrocketed, and, now, with about 20 staff on board, it was staying steady as the market tightened.
“Something like this, it actually gives you that boost again and shows you that there is a lot of pride in the industry and a lot of good operators,” Chris says.
For Richmond Valley Mayor Robert Mustow, the truck show is a highlight every year.
“I’d like to thank everyone who’s turned up this year,” Mustow told the crowd during the awards ceremony.
“The weather’s been kind to us, and I’d like to really thank Mick (from North Coast Petroleum) for being our major sponsor and every other sponsor who makes this truck show so successful. I believe it’s the best in Australia and the southern hemisphere.
“I can’t tell you my appreciation of everyone coming.
“If you’re showing (your truck), or you’ve just come to support it… family… friends – it means a lot to our area.
“I talked to the Lismore Mayor this morning out at an art show I was at, at Bentley, and he owns a restaurant in Lismore, and he said there were trucks pulling up at five o’clock this morning at his cafe in Lismore getting coffee.
“So, it’s not only for Casino in the Richmond Valley area, it’s for the whole North Coast, and I’d say the same happened at Kyogle and Grafton and Coffs Harbour and all the way along the coast.”
For Darren Nelson and James Pooley, who made the trek from South Australia to share their truck cleaning wares with the crowd, the show was an eye-opener.
James, who is the production coordinator for CarChem Products, makers of the truck cleaner Trucking Gold, said there had been plenty of interest during the day and getting to be part of the show made the trip worthwhile.
Truckie Tim Wells made the trek from Goodiwindi in an Ambrose Haulage 1996 Kenworth T904.
Wells said he counted himself lucky to work for a company that was happy to be part of the show and proud of the gear it ran for its grain and fertiliser haulage in and out of Brisbane and Newcastle.
Front and centre on the main roundabout, Krystina Parker and Mark Tobin from Followmont Transport were fielding interest and selling merchandise in support of the Get Yourself Checked charity started by Mark and Country Trucker Caps’ Brett Hanly.
Krystina said the t-shirts and caps were proving popular and the message was certainly getting out there about the relatively new charity and its mission of raising awareness and funds for the fight against prostate cancer.
While there was plenty of trucking equipment and merchandise, including Casino Truck Show shirts, caps and hoodies for sale, it was the trucks the fans had come for, and just about every brand was represented in one shape or another.
While Kenworths dominated the trucks on show, followed closely by Macks, there was a solid line up of classic Fords along with new releases such as bright white MAN loaded with spotlights and carrying a Lion airbrushed on its back.
Jon Kelly and his HHA crew were out in force with “Kelly’s alley” boasting a range of the group’s heavy haulage trucks that are about to be auctioned by Pickles, alongside some stunning classics from the collection, some of which will eventually be on show at a museum-type showroom that’s currently in the planning stage.
For Casino’s local cafes, pubs and charities, such as the Lions’ Club with their ever-popular sausage sizzle, the steady flow of customers is sure to have topped up the tills in a big way.
The local artists jumped in on the spirit of the event too, and those who wandered down Barker Street to the gallery were treated to an installation project that saw a Kenworth colourfully covered in all manner of embroidered blankets and wheel hub warmers.
With visitors coming to Casino from all over Australia, and New Zealand too, the show has a carnival atmosphere (yep, there’s even a kids’ entertainment area with rides too) that is easy to get carried away in.
With two stages rocking out live music, hundreds of highly polished trucks to oogle and the joy of the truckies and their families enjoying a good time away from the road for a few hours, catching up with friends and telling trucking stories with smiles on their faces, it’s easy to see why Casino just keeps on getting better every year.
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