Howiebilt

11 th Annual Howiepalooza / Post Blog

2010-05-03T09:37:00.000-05:00

Another HoWiEpAlOoZa is in the books and wrapped up for 2010 !!!
Mother Nature decided to show her authority a few times but there was no way she was going to stop us from having fun. I had a great time with some great people and the event could not have been more fun ! The park was perfect, food was fantastic ( thanks to Phil from Wilderness 4x4 for the Bar-B-Q ) There were folks from N.Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Sponsors for the event included (alphabetical order): Adventurous 4x4, BailieBilt, BC Broncos, Bronco Design, James Duff, Frontier 4x4, Monster energy drink, Rockcrawler.com, Wheelinevents.com and Wilderness 4x4. Thanks to all of them, all of the kids had something to wear or take home with them and a few of the adults received a little something too.

A special thanks goes out to the SMORR family and friends, that work so hard to make my event so great ! I had an absolute blast and I know everyone else did too !!!

howiebilt

HoWiEpAlOoZa XI

2010-04-04T17:27:00.004-05:00

That's right peoples !!!

The eleventh annual Howiepalooza is upon us . April 29, 30, 31 & 32nd (yes I realize there are only 30 days in April :) )
Southern Missouri Off Road Ranch is hosting it for me again and for anyone who has not been to Howiepalooza or the Ranch, I really encourage you to take the time and go. There will be more than enough activities to keep everyone occupied and the trails aren't bad either :) .

Entry fees are a little different this year and I think it will work out for everybody . There were some folks that could only make it to the event for 1 or 2 days but they had to pay for the whole thing so understandably, they chose to no attend. There were some folks that didn't know what Howiepalooza was all about ( yeah, I know... what's up with that ??? ) and didn't want to partake in any of the activities or hang out with some of the coolest people on the planet. Again, very understandable in today's economy. This year, you pay for what ever you want to do , 1 day, 3 days, 12 days or whatever. If you want the event T-shirt, you better pre-register with what sizes and how many because that is the only way to ensure that you will get one. While you are there, pre-registering, you will have the opportunity to purchase any extra meal tickets you might be needing for the folks you bring with you.

www.smorr.net

This years sponsors :

Bailie Bilt
BC Broncos
Frontier 4X4
Monster
and few more !!

HoWiEpAlOoZa X

2010-04-04T17:13:00.002-05:00

OK ... so everybody knows that I procrastinate and don't have a life and never have time for such silly things as a blog and I find myself parked in front of the computer , realizing that I never blogged about HowiepaloozaX. It came and went and everybody had a great time and the weather was beautiful. I had a friend(now serving in Irac) propose to his fiance , during the raffle. Fast forward to modern day and they are married and expecting !! I could not be happier :)

My daughter, Kari, came with me for the 10th and soon departed to serve her country as well. I am so glad we got to spend that time together and I am hoping and praying that she will be back to come with me again for the 11th and every single one after that .

Every Child in attendance, won a fantastic prize (Bronco Toy) and we celebrated my birthday like it was my last. The night run was awesome and really something to see from on top of a mountain, in the darkness, with strings of dimly lit trail vehicles all over the countryside... everyone searching for me so they could win a prize.

The venue was top notch and I can't brag enough, about the facilities and the staff at SMORR.

I want to thank everyone involved and all that participated.

howie

The 10th Annual HoWiEpAlOoZa X 2K9

2008-12-01T09:32:00.000-06:00

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

2008-11-30T16:25:00.000-06:00

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

2008-11-29T18:22:00.000-06:00

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

2008-11-29T17:59:00.000-06:00

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

2008-11-29T17:17:00.000-06:00

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!

2008-11-28T11:43:00.002-06:00

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 !

******* Latest Update ************************************************************

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 !

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXLatest -UpdateXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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 !