After quite a few years, we had another big Cooter's event and it was incredible! Can you believe Cooter's Place has been feeding our love for the Dukes of Hazzard for a quarter of a century?! We are so blessed that Ben and Alma love us fans so much and they continue to give us amazing events and the 25th Anniversary event was another great one.
Cooter's sure welcomed the entire Hazzard Nation! In this post, which is shaping up to be a long one, I'll try to chronicle the entire event and show off a bunch of pictures. I'll also talk about the Dukes of Hazzard Jeopardy event that was one of the coolest things I've had the honor to do at a Cooter's event, and I've been privileged to so some amazing things. Let's dive in!
The main event on Saturday and Sunday took place at the Page Valley Fairgrounds. This meager sign was on a side road behind where I parked and I thought it looked so simple but so perfect. I'm not sure how many people at the actual event saw it because of it's location, but I'm sure people saw it leading up to the event. I really like this sign.
Let's start on Friday. If the entire event just lasted on Friday, no one would have gone home unhappy. We had a mini Dukesfest at Cooter's on the first day.
There were so many General Lees and Hazzard cars parked at Cooter's on Friday.
I love flying the drone above Hazzard County.
Hey! That car in the prime spot in front of the Hazzard Garage looks familiar. You know the one...
While I had the drone in the air, I met up with a few fellow Dukes fanatics and grabbed a dronie (drone selfie). Pictured with me are fellow collectors Bobby Hamilton and Jeff Bonecutter and some other friends.
Inside Cooter's happened to be the stars of the Dukes of Hazzard! Imagine that! Tom Wopat was setup in the garage and Richie was in charge of the crowd. You know he always does the best job. Tom signed a lot of autographs on Friday.
The line for Tom went through the museum, past the stage, and into the store.
To the side of the stage, Rick Hurst signed and his line was also long.
Well that sure is a nice banner you're signing Rick, more on that bad boy later in the post.
Over in the diner, good ol' Coy, Byron Cherry singed autographs. Our good buddy Tony Lawson helped Byron all weekend. We love Tony.
I wasn't the only one to accuse Coy of wearing a Luke shirt on Friday. But he made it work. Byron loved seeing himself and Chris Mayer, Vance, on the official Gordy Dukes of Hazzard Harmonica.
AND I got to meet a cast member from the Dukes that I never met before. That doesn't happen too often. Jeff Altman, who played Boss's nephew Hughie Hogg came to the event and the fans loved meeting him. So did I!
Jeff has been touring the world preforming his stand-up and magic routines for decades and didn't have room on his schedule for Dukes events. That has recently changed and now he's enjoying his Dukes fame with the fames.
Did someone say magic? Jeff wowed the crowd with some truly jawdropping card tricks and I was amazed each time I got to see one. I used to dabble in card tricks, but I have no idea how Jeff did his. It was so much fun to watch.
I happened to be hanging out at Jeff's table in the museum when Gillian Cole came trough for an autograph, and I'm so glad I did. She dressed up as Hughie! Jeff was very excited to meet her and it was perfect timing for me. Gillian did an excellent job! You know I love Dukes costumes. I told Gillian, and her father, Kevin, about our Halloween in Hazzard Costume Contests at the Hazzard Run and they said they will consider it. Fingers crossed.
The event celebrated 25 years at Cooter's. It all started at a former fruit stand in Sperryville. Builder Extraordinaire Mark Bradley created the ultimate homage to the first Cooter's location by building an astonishing model of it. Mark is so talented!
Seeing Mark's model immediately took me back decades to my first trip to Cooter's and the first time I met Ben and Alma. This model is breathtaking.
Mark didn't just complete the front of the original store, he added the details of the rear as well. Seeing this little side door, I remember that was where I first walked in Cooter's because I parked on the hillside behind it. When I walked into that door, my life changed forever and seeing a model representation of it was almost trippy. Just so cool.
Mark got everything right.
Mark even included the Catfish and Bar-B-Que sign. That thing was iconic.
Here's my picture of it from way back when. Mark got it exactly right.
Here's an old picture of me under the sign seen in the model picture above. I am in such awe of this model.
I told Mark the model was only missing two things. A tiny Cooter standing out front and a tiny me hanging out the tiny General Lee. A DukesCollector can dream can't he? Mark said he used some of my old pictures and videos to help him nail the details and I'm honored I could help. The model was on display on the stage at Cooter's on Friday and in the Blue Ridge Bank building at the fairgrounds. What's the Blue Ridge Bank building, you ask? That's coming up soon.
Catherine Bach wasn't singing autographs on Friday at the store, but that didn't mean she wasn't there. Most people didn't know, but Daisy and Alma were hanging out in the back of the store for a little bit and I got to hang out with the two first ladies of Hazzard County. This amazing yellow Cooter's Wrecker made it debut at the event and the builders presented to Miss Alma on Friday. It's making its way to the Pigeon Forge store (the only way it knows how).
On Friday I went over to the fairgrounds to see the event before it started and find out where the Jeopardy was going to take place.
Turns out it was in the Blue Ridge Bank building. The facilty is used for livestock auctions and turned out to be the perfect venue for a Hazzard County game show.
I had a podium, stands, speakers, a TV and everything. Saturday was shaping up to be one for the ages. And it didn't disappoint.
I retuned to the fairground early on Saturday morning. I'm usually one of the first people to the venue at big Dukes events. But I can never get there earlier than Richie. He always beats me there. The lines were empty when I got there but they were about to fill up quickly.
The incomparable Bobby Scott was, as always, in charge of placing the General Lees and other Hazzard vehicles. He does cause he's the best at it. We all love Bobby Scott.
And we all love seeing so many General Lees. There were more General Lees at the event than I've seen in a long time. This event was truly special.
Tribute cars, Hazzard Patrol Cars, Road Runners, the event had everything.
Told you the lines filled up quick. I always have fun mingling with people while they were in line. I love talking to fellow fans.
I love it, I love it!
Our buddy Keith was carrying this amazing door by a seatbelt he had strapped over his shoulder. He has so many autographs on it and gave me the privilege of adding my signature to the mix.
Not far below Cooter's autograph and close to Winston Zedmore's, who was on the Dukes, I added my chicken scratch and I'm honored.
There were big items all over the place waiting to be autographed. These very well made Dukes cornhole boards were getting signed at the event. Much like I did back at Hazzard Homecoming in 2012, I asked the owners if they planned on using them after they are autographed. Back in '12 the owners hadn't thought of that, but these crafty cornholers already had a plan. They were going to clearcoat on top of the signed areas so they could have their signed cornhole boards and play on them too. Great idea. Hmm, wonder if that will be the only time I bring up Hazzard Homecoming 2012 in this post...
Hey look it's Dukes collector and model builder J. R. Garrett and his autographed 01 door. Looking good J. R. Wonder if that will be the only time I mention J. R. in this post...
Ed made his triumphant return to Cooter's! Ed has been Ben's bodyguard for years and does an outstanding job. Ed is only brought in for the big events so I haven't seen him in a while. It was great catching up with him. Ed, you are the man!
Love the creativity.
The lines were long and it was hot, but that didn't stop anyone from having a blast and getting their autographs. If you think the lines looked long from the ground, wait until you see them from the sky...
Drone time! The stage area was quiet earlier on on Saturday but it filled up both Saturday and Sunday evenings.
Seeing the event from 400 feet up really shows how big of an operation it was and how many people were there. Michael, Walter, Cathy and the Cooter's Crew, along with Ben and Alma, of course, did an amazing job make this event happen.
That's a lot of General Lees!
All these Hazzard cars plus the ones in the stars' tents and other locations. Hazzard Nation was in full force at the 25th Anniversary event!
There were four screen used Gen'rals! One from the show and three from the movie. How awesome is that. The police car in the background is from the Georgia Era of the show as well. Incredible!
Speaking of police, Hazzard County's finest had to keep the riffraff in line. Billy Lambing is always causing trouble and Rosco had to cuff him and stuff him.
Nah, not really. Billy is a fine upstanding Hazzard County Citizen and is always a pleasure to hang out with. Rosco is played by Henry Hom, who you may remember from Cooter's Last Stand. Where Henry goes...
Rob Lang is not far behind. Rob is the perfect Boss Hogg to Henry's Rosco, or is it the other way around? I wonder if that will be the only time I mention Rob and Henry in this post...
My favorite General Lee was used for the professional cast photos. This time around Kim Lemay and her crew at Professional Celebrity Photography did the photo and it was a lot of fun. I helped out once again and everyone had a great time. We got through the crowd pretty quick and the fans loved the opportunity to get a pro photo with the cast. Mine is at the top of the post.
It wouldn't be a big Cooter's event if Dave DeWitt didn't have his wonderful mobile museum there. Dave works so hard on his masterpiece and the fans really love it. Dave brought almost exclusively golden era items this time and I love seeing his collectibles. He was busy all day talking about his collection. Dave is the best!
While getting ready for my big show, I met up with old pal Tom Felice, owner of the Jersey General. These events are all about hanging out with Dukes friends.
Ok, Jeopardy time. Or as Jeopardy announcer Johny Gilbert, and Dukes of Hazzard Jeopardy Announcer Matt Thomas say, THIS IS JEOPARDY!
It's not exactly the Alex Trebek Stage at Sony Pictures Studio, but the Blue Ridge Bank Building at the Page Valley Fairgrounds was the perfect setting for Dukes of Hazzard Jeopardy! It all took place at 1pm on Saturday, July 19, 2024..
The first trivia event I did was at Cooter's Last Stand in 2017. It was a success and people really enjoyed it. I knew I was going to do it again I would have to change it up and go bigger. I wanted this one to be even more of a spectacle. Instead of picking contestants at random, I wanted to hand pick a few people that I know had extreme Dukes knowledge and would put on a real show for the spectators. It's all about the pageantry!
J. R. was always in my head to be a contestant. He's only 21, but he really knows his Dukes. I see J. R. as the leader of the next generation of Dukes fans. I love the guy. And I still remember the look of disappointment on his face when he wasn't picked to play the first trivia game at Last Stand. I've been carrying that around with me for seven years and always knew I had to right that wrong. J. R. was always going to be a Dukes Jeopardy contestant.
I knew I wanted someone from the old message board days and someone from "the group" of Dukes fans that I had looked up to for years. Alex Page was an easy choice. Alex has been a Dukes fan forever and has attended Dukes events for longer than I have. He competed in the first Hazzard in Halloween costume contest as the Bandit. HIs cars are beautiful. His knowledge of the Dukes is unmatched and I knew he would be the perfect foil for J. R. to go against. I was very excited when Alex agreed to compete in the game.
The third contestant wasn't as easy to find. Originally I wanted to give Milton Dacus Jr. the opportunity to defend his trivia title from Last Stand, but he wasn't attending the event and this is a different competition. Milton is the winner of the #01 Champion of the Dukes of Hazzard Trivia Competition at Cooter's Last Stand present by DukesCollector. This is a different animal all together. But that meant I didn't have a third competitor.
I figured I would find someone of Friday and they actually found me! I ran into Rob and Henry in the museum on Friday. They were already in full costume and after we caught up a little Rob asked me who was playing Jeopardy. I was pretty excited he knew about it and it became apparent pretty quickly that Rob was the only choice for player number 3. Rob has been watching Dukes since the first episode aired in 1979. He was already planning on coming on Saturday as Boss Hogg and Henry as Rosco by his side. Talk about pageantry and spectacle. The players were set, the stage was ready, it was time for Dukes of Hazzard Jeopardy!
I put up some signs around the fairground and had the time and players displayed on the TV before the event. Unlike the trivia competition, I didn't prepare a trophy for the winner, This time the winner was taking home the banner that was signed by the cast and designed by your friend and mine Thomas Heisel. It was a great prize.
I setup the GoPro and captured the entire gameshow. Matt Thomas helped in the preparation of the event and appeared as the announcer. Dave Stitzinger helped out with some questions as well. Jeff and Amethyst helped during the game as well. Michael Smith and Richie Alligood also helped make this game happen and I'm so grateful for everyone's help.
I really wanted to make this feel like a game of Jeopardy. I didn't just want standard Dukes questions, but wanted questions like Ken Jennings and Alex Trebek before him would ask. I added a Rhyme Time category and things like Dukes potpourri. I was really excited when I came up with the Final Jeopardy question. When I first pitched the idea to Miss Alma, I didn't have a plan and envisioned having to buy or build buzzers and make some kind homemade game board. I found a wonderful internet based program called Factile and couldn't have been happier with it. It gave me everything I wanted including the ability for the players to use their phones as buzzers, a game board on the TV, and it kept scores for me. It was perfect. We had a few internet related hiccups but everything worked out. The audience participated and seemed to really have a good time. I hope you enjoy watching the gameshow.
I posted the video about a week before posting this blog and already got a good bit of positive feedback. The most important piece of feedback came from Alma herself. She loved the presentation and wants to do it again! Dukes of Hazzard Jeopardy will return. I got a lot of work to do to come up with new questions and new categories. This is going to be great!
I had to grab a picture with the contestants. I'm so glad J. R., Rob, and Alex participated in the game. I think I had the perfect contestants. But I've heard that many people would have loved a shot at the game. Now that Ben and Alma have approved more games, everyone will get their shot at the champion.
Who is the champion? Well if you didn't watch the video, spoiler alert, J. R. came out as the big winner, and it wasn't easy. In classic back and fourth game with a huge come from behind victory, J. R. bested Alex by getting Final Jeopardy correct and wagering perfectly to become the champ. I couldn't have written a better ending to the game. Congratulations J. R.!
J. R. was so excited to be crowned the champion. I'm so happy for him and I'm so happy Jeopardy was a hit. Let's do this again!
After Jeopardy and the cast photo, Ben and Tom took the stage and I grabbed a few pics.
Everyone loves when the Dukes take the stage. Hey look, it's Amethyst in the bottom left of the second photo.
It's so much fun being a part of these events. I'm so fortunate to be so able to go on stage and everything.
After the stage show, Mark was able to present his model to Ben. It was so cool to see Ben take the amazing model in. He loved it so much. Mark was so proud.
He didn't miss a single detail. It was truly special to be a part of this moment.
Alma and Ben really loved the Cooter's model. We all love the model. What a great job you did, Mark. I can't wait to see what you do next.
Before Saturday came to a close at the fairgrounds, I hung out with some stalwart fellow fans that have been a huge part of this hobby for as long as I can remember. Pictured here with me are Paul Harrington who's Canadiandukes website is one of the oldest Dukes sites online. Next to Paul is, of course, the venerable Bobby Scott. Next to Bobby is "Cousin" Don Covell. Don is also in the running for having one of the first Dukes sites online. I love the fact the every time I see Don, he brings up Franks and Beans, my comedy show with Jeff. It's always great swapping stories with old friends.
Saturday night something interesting happened. I stayed at the Brookside Cabins, where Matt Thomas, Alex Page, Billy Lambing, Dave DeWitt and several others stayed. They usually park their Generals and Hazzard vehicles in front of their cabins. I went to grab a pizza and when I got back all the cars were missing. Then I walked down to the front of the cabins, near the Brookside Restaurant. I found the cars!
The group setup their cars for a perfect shot in front of the Brookside. I'm so glad I didn't miss it and had time to get the drone in the air.
Look at these beautiful cars!
We had a mini Dukesfest in front of out cabins. We took a few pictures of the cars only and then we all got in front. People driving by almost wrecked because they couldn't keep their eyes on the road.
These pictures came out great and I'm so happy I was able to be a part of this.
This would have been the best way to finish the day, but it didn't end there. All the cars sped off and did a run down down Lee Highway. I jumped in Matt's Gen'ral and it was a blast. Then everyone went back the cabins and we had a Hazzard County barn burner. It was so much fun.
Let's go back to the above mentioned Hazzard Homecoming event from 2012. While there I took a picture of this amazing 2000 video game display piece and mentioned on the blog that it was owned by Billy Shaffer and if he ever decided to sell it, I hope he would think of me. Billy is best buds with Matt, Alex, Billy Lambing, and the gang and I've touched base about this piece a few times. While everyone else was partying outside the cabins, me and Billy hung out on a porch and traded stories and tall tales for at least an hour and then got down to business.
I'm so happy to say that the beautiful display piece left his cabin and came to mine.
I've been working on this deal for a dozen years and it finally came to be. We had talked about it leading up to the event and that's why Billy brought the display. I couldn't be happier to add this one to the collection. Anything made for display purposes is rare and Billy kept this in perfect condition. I have a Daisy stand-up from the second Playstation game, but I've never seen another one of this particular display. Billy and I really got to know each other and had a great time hanging out. I look forward to hanging with Billy again and I'm so grateful we made this deal. Thanks again, Billy!
Sunday was another great day at the 25th Event. I got to spend some time with Dave DeWitt and our pal Braden showed up. Braden, of course, is a collector and super fan and might soon take the title of leader of the next generation away from J. R. He just has to add Jeopardy Champion to his resume. Maybe someday.
This shirt is awesome. This collector of all things Dukes of Hazzard is awesome. We spent some time together at McDonalds after the event.
With no Jeopardy and the cast photo being an hour later on Sunday, I got to interact with fellow fans and the cast a little more on Sunday. Jeff came over to my, I mean Richie's General Lee and I took some pictures while he signed it.
It was great getting to know Jeff at the show. He is such a nice guy and super talented and funny. I think we'll be seeing a lot of ol' Hughie at future Dukes events.
What a beautiful General Lee!
The crowd was rocking on Sunday. It was definitely a music day!
After all the musical guests, the cast took the stage and closed the show. The fans loved it.
The civil war buffs fired a cannon at the end of the show.
It was one of the loudest things I've ever heard. It was definitely planned and not a microphone mishap that s certain DukesCollector causes. Nope, nothing like that, thank goodness.
This event was a on par with previous events like Last Stand and Homecoming. Everyone had a great time and the cast really enjoyed themselves. I feel like I stepped up my game with Jeopardy and I'm so happy it was so successful. I had a lot of help and I'm very thankful for everyone who was a part of it. Cooter's 25th Anniversary was another great Dukes event. Ben and Alma and everyone who worked so hard to make it as great as it was are truly our heroes and we as Dukes fans are blessed to have you. Thank you so much for everyone at Cooter's 25th Anniversary Event! Here's to the next 25 years!
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