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BRONCO DRIVER MAGAZINE'S SUPER CEL EAST: What a difference 3 years can make!

Writer's picture: AmyOAmyO

The Bronco Driver Magazine Super Celebration East has grown a lot since 2006, and even more since 2020! Amy, Laura, and several other BABE members had the opportunity to meet up at this year's event.

Some BABE Broncos.

When it started in 2002, Bronco Driver Magazine was (and still is to my knowledge) the only magazine solely dedicated to owners and enthusiasts of the Ford Bronco. In 2006 the magazine held the first Bronco Super Celebration in Townsend, Tennessee on "the peaceful side" of the Great Smoky Mountains near Pigeon Forge.


This four-day event is advertised as the world’s largest Bronco enthusiast gathering and includes onsite activities, daily drives, awards, product giveaways, vendors, and more. It is a great space to meet other Bronco enthusiasts, admire each other's Broncos, and get ideas for what you may want to do to your own. It is also a way to see all the generations of Broncos in one place, get some accessories and merch, or just meet up with someone you have "known" through social media for a year or more to have a shot (or two) of bourbon!


I attended my first Bronco "Super Cel" back in October of 2020. A few months earlier, on July 14th after I excitedly put my credit card information into the website to reserve my very own Bronco, I began the search to actually SEE one in person. But to no avail- I just couldn't find one. The pictures I was seeing online were all great, but I needed to see it in person. Would it be made from quality or cheap materials? How wide is it? Will I be able to park it on narrow city streets? Will it fit into my garage? (A question I unfortunately did not ask myself, and guess what? - it didn’t. But that’s a story for another day.)


I traveled all around my area hoping someone would have a Bronco on their lot, but of course they did not. During my online searches, and through the various forums I was now a part of, I heard about Super Cel East and saw that there would be the new and highly anticipated 6th generation Bronco there, on-site…in the “flesh”! Tennessee is just 10 hours away? Ok, yeah, I can do that!

The Great Smoky Mountains from my 2020 trip.

The date for Super Cel that year had been pushed from April to October due to COVID, so the timing worked out in my favor. This would finally be my opportunity to see what I already knew I was going to buy no matter what. I had wanted a Bronco of my own ever since my uncle with my sister and I bouncing wildly in the seat next to him went flying through the farm fields in his old first gen Bronco about 40 years ago. So, with fingers crossed that it would in fact live up to my expectations, I planned for my first ever trip to Tennessee.


Between that July and October, not knowing the amount of time I would end up waiting for my Bronco, I sold my beloved 2006 Jeep Wrangler. I thought that I would get ahead of what I assumed would soon be a market flooded with Wranglers for sale as others like me jumped ship over to Ford. When October rolled around, I rented a minivan (so I could sleep in the back if needed), reserved a spot at a local campground, and headed on down to Townsend where Bronco Super Cel East was being held at the Tally-Ho Inn.

Super Cel East 2020.

In 2020, the event covered just about one to two fairly large fields. Upon arrival I parked amongst approximately 30 other vehicles and walked onto the show grounds. Not wanting to appear too eager for the many people I am sure were paying no mind to me at all, I meandered amongst all generations of Broncos while making an overly calculated path of travel towards the 6th generations I saw parked up on the hill. There was one black 2-door Badlands with tube doors, two Bronco Sports, and one Area 51 4-door Badlands with a rooftop tent setup. I stood by that 2-door and just let it happen - I fell in love. It was everything I had hoped it would be and more. I walked over to the 4-door and stared some more.

The first Gen 6 Bronco I saw in person, SCE 2020.

They let me open the door and feel the MGV seats. I imagined myself and my dogs somehow up in that rooftop tent waking up somewhere green and quiet and misty. I measured the 35” tires against the height of my own hip and felt my smallness, while picturing all the places those tires could take me. I went back to the 2-door and stared some more. I made awkward introvert-style conversation with someone whose accent was much different than mine but we both were just gushing over how much we loved what we were looking at.


I was able to imagine my very own Bronco while looking at the paint choices in real life. They had a display of jerry cans containing all the colors that the 2021 Bronco would be offered in. At this point, I had only seen them through my computer screen, and I was about 90% certain I would be ordering a Cactus Grey 2-door, until I saw the jerry cans and decided right then, I had to have Antimatter Blue. It reminded me of the sparkling motorcycle helmet I had as a kid, and since I was already drowning in Bronco nostalgia, it just seemed fitting. I could go home now, happy with what I saw, change the color on my order and wait patiently for my Bronco that would be built soon! (Which turned out to be not very soon, instead it was approximately 600 days later.)

Super Cel East, 2023.

Super Celebration that year in 2020 was about a quarter of the size that it was just last week three years later in 2023. This year, no minivan was needed. No paint sample jerry cans were needed either. This year, I drove my own Bronco to Tennessee where I would then see an actual 6th gen Bronco of every color- including the Antimatter Blue (which I was unable to get after being bumped to a 2022), and Velocity Blue which is what I actually ended up ordering.


There were over a hundred vendors, multiple events and rides planned throughout the day, and a Bronco Nation BBQ and concert. I tried but could not properly capture the scale of the 2023 event with my iPhone, but attending Super Cel East this year was special for several reasons. It was incredible to see how the event has grown in just 3 relatively short years, but also this year I was not alone. I was attending and participating along with great friends that I made all because of the Bronco.

BABE members Ken, Amy, Laura and Michelle.

This year found me with BABE admin Laura, (who is responsible for the BABE logo, all the incredible branding, and website), and mother/daughter badasses Michelle and Patti from Texas, all whom I met at the first all-female Bronco Off Roadeo in 2021, along with Aly Dubois who is a Friends of Ford brand ambassador now. We also met up with Heidi from Bronco Battalion, and spent some time (and tasted some bourbon) with Kelly and Dave from All Terrain Nation. It was great to meet up with other BABE members Jim, Ken, and Bre, to see our friends from Bronco Nation, to exchange stickers, and to make new friends and add members to our group.


Because of our shared interest and enthusiasm for a vehicle, we are now all part of this amazing and diverse community. Walking the grounds, we recognized the faces and Broncos of those who had only been seen through a screen at that point, and it was so nice to say hello face to face.


We look forward to more events, and to planning our own Bad Ass Bronco Enthusiasts regional group events and meetups soon.

Bronco Driver Magazine holds several events throughout the year, including Super Celebration West in Colorado September 5-9, Super Celebration Wisconsin July 12-15, and Super Celebration Nevada (with more details to come on that in July.) For more information regarding Bronco Driver events see their website: https://www.broncodriver.com


AmyO is a BABE admin and drives a 2-door Velocity Blue Black Diamond Sasquatch with manual transmission and can be found on IG @StellaBlu682

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