Booth Life – Symco Hotrod & Kustoms Weekender

Last weekend we had the great opportunity to have a booth and showcase our books at the Symco Hotrod & Kustoms Weekender. We typically don’t try to sell at booths in WI much, but this show came highly recommended by our friend Ginny Rosewater and organizers were genuinely enthusiastic about having us there.

Ginny Rosewater, Kelly, & Shannon Brooke

We flew in our author Shannon Brooke to sign copies of her new book Vroom!. Because it’s a hot rod/ pin up book, we thought it would be a nice event for some sales and promotion. Shannon came in a week early, as she has built up quite a fan base in WI and quickly fills up a full schedule of photo shoots. She also shot the winner of the Miss Iola Pin Up Contest from last month.
Symco runs Thursday through Saturday, but we set up only for the busiest days - Friday and Saturday. I can’t speak highly enough about this show – we had such a great time and met a lot of friendly, wonderful people. And we managed to sell a few books, too.

Shannon and Tony, who drove up from Illinois to grab some books and meet her

Symco, WI is a very, very small town out in the Wisconsin wilderness. The show is actually held on the Unionville Thresheree grounds, just outside of Symco. What is that, you ask? Well, “Unionville” is kind of like small, made-up town. Old buildings have been brought in and set up like a little town, kind of like a ghost town historical reenactment. Okay, so what is a Thresheree? I had to ask a few people before I got an answer to that. A “thresher” is essentially a tractor, and a thresheree is like a tractor fair. As such, the Unionville Thresheree is an annual event that brings tractor enthusiast from all over the region to marvel at tractors – old and new. But for one lovely August weekend every year, the same grounds are host to the Symco Hotrod & Kustom Weekender. For this event, hot rods and kustom cars are parked all over the grounds – in addition to the really cool vintage tractors that are already there.

Hotrods everywhere!

Kelly taking a break in the 1800s

There’s a nice mix of cars at Symco – very expensive restorations alongside of rough garage hobby work. We made some awesome new friends who convinced us to work on that old shell of a Mustang that’s been languishing in the garage for years.
During the day, Symco is a family event – fun things to see, mini-bike races, and a great swap meet. As the sun goes down and the crowd has been enjoying $1 beers all day long (that’s right, $1!), things get a little rowdier. This is the time for bands, burlesque shows, and cars with flame-thrower tailpipes.

Mini bike parade

Random thoughts that come to mind about Symco:
Giant (somewhat penis-y) corndogs
Food vendors with crazy food (jalapeno cheese egg rolls and a spaghetti burrito)
People LOVE vintage trailers (there is a whole campsite on the grounds dedicated to vintage trailers only)

Ginny & Will at the end of day 2

We’ll see you next year for sure. Thanks to the organizers who treated us and Shannon so well!