The 2008 Grave Digger Block Party found its home in Gilbertsville, PA on October 4, 2008.  Congratulations go out to Douglass Ott and his wife Heather, and their 2 kids, Jarred and Kaitlynn.

The family was really happy to have won the contest but said they just didn’t know what to expect.  They were especially excited on the day of the party as our group arrived to decorate and prepare several hours before.  They wanted to help us and kept asking if we needed anything, but we told them their only job that day was to enjoy the party.  All of the kids kept running back to the backyard to check out all the goodies in the boxes. 

About an hour before it began, Dustin Brown showed up with the Grave Digger monster truck.  He began tiring it up and drove it into the backyard next to the tent.  Now that that important piece of the party was situated, there was one last thing, the guest of honor Dennis Anderson. 

Dennis and all the rest of the guests began filtering in close to the 1pm party start time.  The Ott family was so happy to find out that Dennis traveled to Gilbertsville with his several members of his own family.  His wife Carisa, daughter Kristen, and son Weston also came along to enjoy the festivities.  It was a 7 hour drive from North Carolina to Gilbertsville, but Anderson family got to spend some quality time together on the way there.  Weston was a little shy at first, but within 15 minutes, both of the Anderson kids were running around tossing footballs and playing with all the other kids at the party.  Dennis socialized with Doug and Heather and got to meet some of their friends and family.

Now it was time to eat!  Lunch consisted of barbequed chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, potato and macaroni salad, and all the fixins’ from Moyer’s catering. You could tell that everyone was having a great time, but the best part was Doug Ott saying, “I can’t believe Dennis Anderson is in my backyard!”

After everyone was done feasting on the delicious lunch, Dennis took some time to explain the history of truck and how it came to be.  He followed that up by asking questions of the audience for prizes.  Lucky for all the guests, there were a lot of prizes to be given away.  Unlucky for Dennis, he had to come up with more tough questions to stump the group.  He had some help though, both Kristen and Weston came up with some great questions and everyone was able to win something.  Dennis then sat down and signed everything that all the guests asked him to sign!  From t-shirts, to Hot Wheels, posters, autograph cards and more, he made sure every guest was happy!

After that, the group got together for a photo in front of the truck.  Dennis also spent some time chit-chatting with people about the various parts on the truck.  Before the day was over though, Heather asked Dennis to come back to the tent for a surprise!  She had ordered a cake in honor of Dennis’ birthday which is later in the month of October.  The cake was decorated with crush cars and tire marks.  Everyone sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him and he was presented with a birthday card that played his theme song, “Bad to the Bone” when you opened it up!  Once they finished, little Weston exclaimed, “Daddy can I have the hot wheels Grave Digger on top of the cake?”  Everyone decided that he could have it, but he had to show off his freestyle skills first to earn it. Dennis jumped in and played in the frosting and cake too.  Afterwards, he even served the cake to all the guests too!

It was time for the party to wrap up, so crewman Dustin Brown fired up the truck and drove it back to the hauler to tear it down.  We apologized for all the tire marks in Heathers lawn but she laughed saying, “I was actually hoping he would tear up the lawn”.  The entire crowd watched as the giant wrecking machine was carefully placed in it’s travel container.  Dennis chatted with some of the guests before leaving and was even asked to autograph 2 Harley’s parked in front of the house.  Someone said to the bike owner, “I can’t believe you’re letting him do that.”  To which he answered, “Hey it’s not every day that you can have Dennis Anderson autograph your bike like this!”   

All in all it was an unforgettable day, hopefully the Ott Family and all of their friends enjoyed this once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Also – a special thanks to Larry Moyer of Moyer’s Catering of Gilbertsville, Total Party Center, Jim Dawson at DJ Express, 4Kids, Birthday Express, Balzout, Trends, and everyone else that helped make the 2008 Grave Digger Block Party a success!

TO SEE ALL THE PHOTOS FROM THIS SPECIAL DAY: CLICK HERE