On Saturday, September 17, 2016, we attended and vended the 14th annual Great American Jeep Rally in Ellington, CT. We attended this event in 2013 as spectators and were blown away by the amount of Jeeps, Jeepers, friends and companies that traveled from near and far to join in the days activities. We knew from that day forward, we wanted to be a part of this event each year! Just this past year on social media, this event was described as being the "Superbowl of Jeep events" and it sure does live up to it!

Before I start in on everything that went on during the day, let me give you a little insight on what the GAJR is all about. They invite every style Jeep to park in the field, which results in rows upon rows upon rows of unique builds, mods, colors, styles and more. The Rally's mission, besides bringing the Jeep world together for a day of fun, is also to raise money and continue supporting local and nationwide charities. The money raised from admissions and raffles gets donated to a variety of charities and organizations. Read more about their story here!

This year was a busy one for us, to say the least. We were able to get out from behind the booth for a few minutes to check out some of the days events and vendor booths. Manufacturers such as Rock Krawler, JCR Offroad, Alpine, Clayton Offroad, ProTech, Crawler Conceptz and more lined the area of Vendor Row and there were plenty of local clubs and organizations inviting the public to learn what they're about and join. 

Among the activities available at the Rally, the rock garden and mud pit were definitely where the fun was at!! The lines grew throughout the day to test your Jeeps capabilities barreling into a dug-out pit of mud or bashing your sliders, skid plates and bumpers against the unforgiving boulders in the rock garden. There was also an obstacle course to take your Jeep through a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Spotters were readily available and donned easy-to-see orange shirts so there was no question who to listen to and who to follow if you got yourself in a sticky situation. From what we heard and saw, judging by the crowds "oohs" and "ahhs" and "woahs" and "eeks", there was a lot of entertainment at these obstacles and maybe a little breakage too!

We had our marketers, promoters and torture testers out on the rocks putting their Jeeps to the test and representing for us throughout the day. Most of the runs went well, except for a few broken lockers, broken axles, bent skid plates and completely busted sliders. Despite having to do on-site repairs in the dust and heat, everyone was happy and quick to help and the repairs done got us all home in one piece! 

Toward the end of the day, trophies were given out to the respective Jeep classes; XJ, WJ, TJ, YJ, JK, Best in Show, etc. Spectators and winners were all smiles and lots of cheering could be heard from the main tent. Our most memorable part of the day, by far, was winning the trophy for Best Vendor, voted by customers, attendees, friends and more! We had NO IDEA we were even entered so it definitely took us by surprise! It's just motivation for us to keep doing what we're doing and a token of proof that all of our hard work, sleepless nights, early mornings, skipped meals, and blood sweat and tears is 100% worth it in the end!

A huge thank you to all of our friends, families, followers, customers and more for making what we do worthwhile! We wouldn't be where we are today without the ongoing support and encouragement from you! You truly do make us one big giant, dysfunctional, quirky and loveable #JeepFamily. ~Gillian and Eric