Pennsylvania event draws thousands of Jeep owners and their rigs together for a good cause.
Sunday marked the 22nd annual All Breeds Jeep Show at the York Fairgrounds in York, Pennsylvania…and Jeep owners marked their calendars for it.
Jeep event organizers usually have no problem getting a large number of Jeep owners to show up to a get-together. The people behind this show were no exception. Turnout seemed robust. According to FOX 43, “More than 8,000 people attended the show this year.”
Similar to a lot of other Jeep owner gatherings, the All Breeds Show was about more than just showing off and celebrating Jeeps or about tasting the food, enjoying the entertainment, and competing in the contests provided by the 100 vendors on site. It was for a good cause. The people who put the whole event together intended it to promote driving safety both on and off the road. Proceeds from the show will benefit the the Veterans Administration of York County.
Good cause or not, the people who attended seemed to have a good time, if the above video is any indication. The Jeeps weren’t just sitting in a parking lot drawing admiring gazes and impressed whistles from passersby. They were being driven. Even better, they were being driven off-road on a course made out of concrete chunks and tubes, and strategically piled dirt and rocks – from custom builds to XJ Cherokees to CJs to JK Wranglers (of course). At least one of the all-new 2017 Compass Trailhawks got in on the action, too. No word on Grand Wagoneers or Gladiators or Comanches being at the fairgrounds, but we’d like to think they were. It was the All Breeds Jeep Show, after all.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
