The 10th Annual HoWiEpAlOoZa X 2K9

I have had a wonderful time at the Hannibal Rocks Park venue since the first day that I met Tom and Debbie Wombles . I consider them as family and nobody puts on an event like they do . The amount of hard work and dedication towards this sport & recreation is unparalleled and I have the deepest respect and admiration for them and the Rrock Mafia . I will continue to support them and encourage everybody to check out their park and events .

It has been the practice , of Howiepalooza , to make this event a "traveling show" and with that being said ... I am moving on to another venue .

The 10th Annual Howiepalooza will be held at the Southern Missouri Off Road Ranch
http://www.smorr.net/

The dates for the event are confirmed for April 24th - 26th .

* A night run is scheduled for the 24th .

I am still working on pre-registration and t-shirts . The owners and staff at SMORR are working out some fun activities for everyone to enjoy .

Thanks to everyone and God Bless Our Troops !


howiebilt

HoWiEpAlOoZa Supports Our Troops

I served 11 years in the Signal Corps and I have a daughter that is full time National Guard (in Iowa) . There are very few people that I have met , so far , that have not been affected by the war on terror . If you do not have a friend or loved one that is serving or has served , you know somebody that has .

For that reason , I am trying to put together something with our armed forces and I hope that everyone will help me in thanking them . Without our brave soldiers , we would not have our freedoms and Howiepalooza is all about freedom .


Howiebilt

Participants and media

In years past I have had some of the major corporations attend Howiepalooza . Land Rover and Hummer used Howiepalooza as one of their quarterly events to take people out on the trails and teach them how to operate and understand the capabilities of their vehicles . Most recently , Toyota has sent their off road trail team to Howiepalooza to bring their new FJ Cruisers for everyone to test drive . It's a great program and they are a great bunch of people and the crowd loves them every time they show up .

Crawl Magazine has always been very good to me over the years and hopefully , they will again be able to attend this years event . I think the hog roast is their favorite part .

I try every year to invite any media that I possibly can . I hope we get some , but I'm not in this for the fame ... just the fun .


Thanks for reading .

Sponsor and Vendors

If you are interested in setting up a display during Howiepalooza , there is no fee . If you want to donate something to raffle during the event , you are very welcome to do so and it will be appreciated however it is certainly not expected or required . I do this so off road shops that might have to travel a long distance , can get an opportunity to show off their wares without going broke doing it . I am hoping to get a large group of vendors for this event so that people can see what's available all over the country and not necessarily what they can find in magazines and the internet . There are local shops everywhere and this will give them a chance to get their products or workmanship out there for everyone to see .


Anyone with questions or would like to sponsor the event by donating anything , can contact me . howiebilt@gmail.com

Howiepalooza History

Howiepalooza X will be the 11th event . The first one is called the innaugural event and it is considered as the number 0 . Each event after that is like an anniversary of the first event .

Over the past 11 years Howiepalooza has grown from a mere 20 trail rigs , on a 60 acre farm in Iowa , to vehicles numbering in the hundreds . The Make It Or Break It ( http://www.miobi.org/ ) playground was the setting for many of the early events and started a long tradition of having a hog roast on saturday evening and that tradition is still in force today . As the event grew , the opportunity to change venues came and has been a big success . Howiepalooza has been held at Disney , Oklahoma and Rockport , Illinois and 2 years in a row at Hannibal Rocks Park venue .

In the past , I took donations for a local food pantry or supplies for our troops abroad but never an actual fee to participate in the event . I don't charge anything however there are normal park fees that must be paid and they are discounted to the participants of Howiepalooza . This event was started so that people could come together , in a family setting , to enjoy the great outdoors doing something we all have in common and that is trailriding . There have been participants from New York , Florida , Kentucky , Ohio , Indiana , Illinois , Missouri , Arkansas , Texas , Oklahoma , Kansas , Nebraska , Minnesota , Wisconsin and of course , Iowa .

Thanks for reading !

Welcome to Howiebilt!

Thanks for reading my blog ! I hope you enjoyed it and if you have any questions or comments you can send them to me howiebilt@gmail.com


Check back for updates on Howiepalooza 2009 !



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Pre-Registration is set up now , for the event !!!!
Just go to www.smorr.net and on the right hand side , there is the HoWiEpAlOoZa X
registration box .

You will have to log in and join the website to make everything work correctly . The pricing for the event will include the Howiepalooza T-shirt . The website administrator is working on a provision to allow more meal tickets and t-shirts as well as sizes required . For those of you who need to reserve a camping spot with electrical hook-ups , there will be a separate deal set up soon . There are 43 electrical sites and there is a water and dump station at the park .

There is a lot of stuff happening , all at the same time . If you have any questions at all or don't see what you are looking for or need , contact me howiebilt@gmail.com

Thanks again and stay tuned !

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I'm working on a downloadable flyer for the event and should have it soon . There will be so many different activities during the event that I am sure there will be something for everyone . Besides the stuff already mentioned , there will be a coloring contest for the 10 and under children and there is some talk that a couple of video games will be set up for them as well . There is a good possibility that a couple of different blowup playhouses will be set up for the kids to play in/on too . I am working on a movie for saturday night and there might be a movie during the "Nite Run" on Friday night too(for the kids) . The RTI ramp is ready for some friendly competition and a ball and barrells course will challenge your driving skills and I am told that it is a very fun passtime at the park . For those who like to get muddy , the mud bog pit will be available and with enough interest , there could be some competition there as well . For those who think they can go anywhere with their vehicle , there is still one trail that has yet to be conquered without a winch . For those folks who like to travel light , you don't have to worry about food because there will be plenty of food at reasonable prices at the SMORR kitchen .

If you have any questions or comments , don't hesitate to contact me howiebilt@gmail.com
I'll get back to you right away ;)

Thanks for reading and don't forget to check back often ... things are starting to happen pretty quick and I'll be posting more info all the time now !