How Titletown Jeepers’ Toys for Tots Ride turned into a holiday tradition

Santa has his sleigh. The Titletown Jeepers Toys for Tots Ride has, you guessed it, Jeeps.

And a lot of them.

Each December, area Jeep owners celebrate the joys of their four-wheel drives while helping to put a smile on kids’ faces at Christmas and most anyone who happens to see all the vehicles roll by. It’s the one day of the year in northeastern Wisconsin when seeing the Grinch behind the wheel of a whole parade of Jeeps is perfectly normal.

This year’s 11th annual event will depart from Appleton North High School at 10 a.m. Dec. 6 and head up to the Watering Hole in Howard, where drivers will drop off their new and unwrapped toys and then enjoy some holiday cheer among their fellow off-road adventurers.

About 100 vehicles are expected, the majority of them Jeeps, but participants are members of the Wisconsin Coalition of Four Wheel Drives, so Ford Broncos, Toyotas, Dodge trucks and other makes and models are mixed in, too. Some drivers decorate their vehicles with holiday inflatables, wreaths and garland. One often shows up dressed as the Grinch. The honor guard leads the ride with past and current members of the armed forces displaying flags from their respective areas of service.

It’s all so much fun that people from as far away as Illinois, Milwaukee and La Crosse are coming to participate, said Chris Walker, of Fox Crossing, who is one of the organizers. Many are returnees who eagerly await for the date of the ride to be announced each year, while there’s always a few newcomers who are just discovering it for the first time.

“It’s just a slice of Americana out there, and everyone’s friends, because you have a four-wheel drive vehicle,” Walker said. “It’s one of the happiest events I ever go to.”

Some Jeep drivers like to bundle up and take the top off

It was started in 2014 by the then president of Titletown Jeepers who was looking for a way to give back to the community. While that organization isn’t active like it once was, Walker, Kayla Urben, of Pulaski, and Wesley Couch, of De Pere, have kept the Toys for Tots Ride going strong.

A total of 1,086 toys were donated in 2024.

The inaugural run left from Lambeau Field, and there have been a handful of different routes over the years, but it’s generally in the Green Bay-Appleton area. The 30- or 40-minute ride travels 50 mph or slower on county roads, preferably with as few traffic lights as possible so that the mile-long procession of vehicles doesn’t get spread out. (Be warned, if you happen to be at an intersection as it travels on County E through Freedom this year.)

They’ve seen all kinds of weather in the last decade, but not surprising, their favorite is snow.

“We always hope for snowy weather, because then it really feels like Christmas,” Walker said. “For us that just makes it more exciting. ‘Oh, we can put this in four-wheel drive. This will be fun.’”

It’s not uncommon to see the Jeeps and Broncos that can take their tops and doors off to go convertible-style during the ride, no matter how cold.

“So it’ll be 30 degrees outside and you’ll have people show up in their snowmobile suits and they’re riding with the top off and the doors off, “Walker said. “I drive with my windows rolled up and the heater on. I’m not that crazy.”

Big post-ride shopping spree adds even more toys to the trailer

Once at the Watering Hole, drivers put their toys in a trailer and then head inside for socializing, lunch and sometimes live holiday music. A minimum of one toy gets them a raffle ticket to qualify for door prizes donated by 50 local and national businesses, with Auto Aces, Kwik Trip, Buck’s Bar & Grill, Ahnapee Brewery and the Green Bay Packers among them.

Tickets are also sold for a couple of bigger raffle items to raise money to buy more toys. Four or five groups of shoppers, each with a few hundred dollars from the raffle, then fan out at a local big box retailer and fill as many as seven carts with not just toys for younger children but items Toys for Tots often requests for teens, including makeup, curling irons, basketballs, earbuds, gift cards and shaving razors.

The whole trailer full gets dropped off in Green Bay on Dec. 8.

“It’s really pretty exciting to see everybody get so excited about giving toys to the kids,” Walker said.

The ride has become a tradition that stands alongside two others that are part of Jeep owners’ unique sense of community. There’s the signature “Jeep wave” drivers give one another when they pass each other on the road and the plastic ducks they gift each other as a sign of respect and kindness when they spot a fellow Jeep in a parking lot.

“If you have a Jeep, you’re one of the family,” Walker said. “It’s a strong, adventure-focused community.”

Members of the public who would like to donate to the ride are are welcome to drop off a new toy at the Watering Hole, 2107 Velp Ave., around 10:30 a.m. Dec. 6 as the ride rolls in.

Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or [email protected]. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: How Titletown Jeepers’ Toys for Tots Ride turned into a holiday tradition

Reporting by Kendra Meinert, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette

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