Southern
Trailfest 2004Southern
Trailfest 2004Report by Adrienne Hall, originally printed in Trail Mix issue of Fall 2004
April 30 through May 2, 2004 is a period of time I will remember for a long
time to come. I was at Southern’s newest annual event, Trailfest. Where
were you?! 
Last
year, when I volunteered to coordinate this event, I thought everything would
go as smoothly as when Greg Griffith pulls Dixie Run together. This is where
I learned a valuable lesson: things go smoothly for Greg because he’s
had a lot of experience and has got everything dialed-in. I started planning
for the May event around the first of March. Word to the wise: don’t procrastinate!
Even though it was a bit overwhelming at first, we got everything pulled together
and were able to put on a great event. This could have never happened without
the great people that came to my aid and helped with everything from splitting
firewood, to leading trail rides, to basically running all of the on-site activities.
There are a few people I have to thank by name: ROY STROUD was my saving grace.
Roy took care of everything at the campground, including parking trucks and
trailers in our limited space, addressing any questions that anyone had about
anything, emceeing the raffle, putting out minor fires that popped up all weekend,
and basically just making my life easier. He deserves a huge thank-you from
everyone that came to Trailfest and had a good time. Greg Griffith was also
a big help; it is always easier to plan for disasters when someone else has
already seen what disasters can occur and how to avoid them. Thanks for sharing
your expertise with me, Greg. Thanks also to Gary Hoskins who owns the campground
and let us have free-reign of the place for a whole weekend and to Jim Tunnell
who was a most understanding boss while I stressed out about the event. Sometimes
it pays to work in a four wheel drive shop with people who understand what you’re
up to.
Trailfest could not have been pulled off without the help of some of our member clubs. Southern Jeeps did an absolutely amazing job with registration, including bringing us into the 21st century with online registration and Pay Pal capabilities, and sacrificing themselves by staying at the campground instead of trail riding. Rattle Rock 4WD Club made sure everyone was safe by taking care of tech inspection. They also gave up most of their riding to stay at camp, and even provided participants with the opportunity to buy equipment for their vehicles such as first aid kits and fire extinguishers. Plum Crazzed 4WD Club is always there when I need them, even if it is to conquer the task of leading trail rides. The guys and gals from Plum Crazzed did a great job pulling together a ride schedule against the impossible and ever-changing odds thrown at us by Coal Creek. A couple of my first-time trailbosses had groups of 20 or 30 vehicles on their rides, and got every one of them out of the woods in time for supper (good job guys!)! Cumberland Off-Road Club made us a great meal Friday night, especially with the short notice I gave them to come up with a menu and people to cook! Middle Tennessee Trailrunners came through for us once again and provided us with a feast Saturday night, the likes of which Hoskins Campground has never seen. Good thing they don’t cook for all Southern’s events, we’d be spoiled rotten (Ed. note: what is wrong with being spoiled rotten?)! Then there are all the people who took care of the details which made everything run smoothly. Mitchell Armes stayed up until all hours of the morning helping me stuff registration packs, Jason Cooper and Atomic City Four-Wheelers helped with trailrides, Brent Galloway and Big T Graphics made sure we had a great looking t-shirt for the event, Chuck Whicker and Coal Creek Mining helped us as much as they could with opening the road on Saturday, Sean Mcleod and Mike Valentine fabricated some great trophies for Lead Foot and Hard Luck awards, and Pat Meiwes from Warn Industries helped haul and store all the raffle prizes when I didn’t have space or time. There are a hundred people I haven’t mentioned who made this even run as smoothly as it did, and without them it could never have worked. Even as Roy and I bit our nails and thought up the worst possible scenarios, these unnamed hundred people were making sure everything fell into place. Thank you. Last, but certainly not least, were our vendors. We had a lot of great prizes donated from many of our vendors and even some of our clubs and individuals within the association. Here is at least a partial list of people and businesses that donated to the raffle: Jim’s Off-Road Center, Windrock Offroad, Bestop, Warn Industries, Rancho, B.F. Goodrich, Ferguson Driveshafts, D.A.M Offroad, Myakka Outfitters, J.B.’s 4X4, Hooters, Applebees, Monster Mountain Offroad, Big Daddy Offroad, and Metal Fusion. I’m probably forgetting a few, please don’t be offended. Wow, a lot of people helped out. Thanks to everyone who helped out and especially, to everyone who came to Trailfest and shared in the fun. Without people coming to ride with us and enjoy our event, none of the planning and hard work would have mattered. THANKS to everyone who showed up and had fun. If anyone has suggestions on improvements, or even if you saw something you particularly liked or enjoyed, let us know! You can e-mail me at: or even call me at (865) 617-7669 if you have suggestions or compliments, or even complaints! Although if you have complaints, maybe you ought to talk to Roy Stroud, call and I’ll give you his e-mail address! The next Southern Trailfest will be May 6-8, 2005. See you there! Click for: Click for: Southern Trailfest SponsorsWithout our large group of sponsors, we couldn't put on the Trailfest. Sponsors give us merchandise for the door prize raffle and they provide us with logistic and operational support (and sometimes emotional support). Plus they're very nice people. These are the sponsoring companies for Southern Trailfest 2004:
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